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trekstarkstart trek IIstartrekstate edustatisticssteinbeckstonecuttersstraight razorstrangestresssupportsuppressionsurvey says seriessuspendedsuspensionsymposiumtabletable lodgetaking a standtalestaxteacherteachingstempletexasthank youthe beehivethe futurethe journeythe league of extraordinary gentlemanthe lion kingthe masonic Societythe masonic waythe money pitthe northern lightthe quarry projectthe second crucifixionthe secretthe symbolthe winding stairsthe winter soldierthe working toolsthoughtfulthrivethrivingtiestime managementtitletitlestmrtony craccotoo much?tractortraptreasontreasuretrendingtrendstributetripstrumptuscola lodgetvtwilight zonetwtmag.comtyleruniqueupdateuproot styleusus historyvacationvalorvanityverbalvinatevitage talesvulcanwageswantswashingtonwatcheswaukeganwbwcypodcastwest gatewhatwhat ifwhat matterswheelingwhen came you?white collarwhite hatwhywicanwiccawilliam f codywilsonwinningwisconsinwish listwmwomenwoodrow wilsonwordworkaholicworking toolsworldworld's tallestworthwritewriterwrong reasonsx-ratedxtianyear in reviewyesyour yearyoutubeyrThe Midnight FreemasonsA group of Master Masons talk about topics of Masonic interest--each from their own unique perspective. You'll find a wide range of subjects including history, trivia, travel, book reviews, great quotes, and hopefully a little humor as well on topics of interest for Freemasons and those interested in the subject of Freemasonry.http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/noreply@blogger.com (Todd E. Creason)Blogger1265125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-3172295490258682219Wed, 21 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-02-21T05:00:22.484-08:0033FreemasonFreemasonryHarrisonhistoryhoovermasonicPresidentSteve HarrisonuseHerbert Hoover and Freemasonry<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.otrcat.com/images/herbert-hoover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="700" height="213" src="https://www.otrcat.com/images/herbert-hoover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A few accounts claim certain famous men who were not Freemasons intended to join the fraternity but circumstances did not permit them to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Notable among these are Dr. Martin Luther King and President Abraham Lincoln.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>King likely was to have been made a Mason upon returning from his tragic trip to Memphis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Lincoln actually petitioned Tyrian Lodge No. 333 in 1860, but decided not to join until after his presidency, thinking becoming a Mason would look like he was doing so for political purposes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There has never been any doubt about President Herbert Hoover's Masonic status.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>He was not a Freemason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>History nor Hoover himself have never had much to say about why… he just wasn't.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the unpublished memoirs of prolific Masonic author Ray V. Denslow, however, we learn there is more to the story. Former Secretary of Agriculture, Arthur M. Hyde, lived in Trenton, Missouri, near the town where Denslow resided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>After his presidency had ended, Hoover visited Hyde at his home and a few guests were invited to the affair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Denslow and his wife Clara were among those fortunate to receive an invitation and he gave the following account:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"Mrs. Denslow and I were both invited to the Hyde home to meet both Mr. and Mrs. Hoover. The evening proved to be in the nature of a reception. I had opportunity to talk privately with Mr. Hoover for a time and to study him and his wife at close range. Mr. Hyde said to him 'this is the young man I spoke to you about.' </i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I never did learn what he was speaking about, unless it was that Mr. Hyde told me once that Mr. Hoover would petition the Masonic fraternity if he thought he could get in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The inquiry came before campaign time and I assured Mr. Hyde that he knew, as well as I, that any attempt to present a petition at that time might be regarded as campaign propaganda. He said Mr. Hoover wouldn't consider it in that event and the matter apparently dropped here. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Another interesting thing Mr. Hyde said to me, was that when Hoover attended college in California he was not a member of any college fraternity. Several fraternity men attempted to keep him from going with Miss Lou Henry, later his wife, who was a sorority girl; this angered him to such an extent that he always regarded fraternities with a questionable eye. Not until after his experiences in Europe and this country did he assume a favorable attitude towards them."</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hoover's situation, then, was somewhat similar to Lincoln's — political reasons may have prevented him from becoming a Freemason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>What's more, he may have put off thoughts about joining until it was too late due to a prior negative experience with fraternities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It's not clear how seriously Hoover may have thought he wouldn't "get in," but it is a near certainty he would have been elected to receive the degrees had he done so.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lincoln, King, Hoover and probably many others have considered knocking at the outer door but for whatever reason just didn't take that first step; and in the vast majority of cases it's a shame.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The craft most certainly would have been all that much better having them as Brothers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">~SLH</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #ff9900; font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;utopia&quot; , &quot;palatino linotype&quot; , &quot;palatino&quot; , serif; font-size: 14px;"><b style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><u>Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°</u></b></span>, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships are the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35 year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons — Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/S8MfmFLqdSc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/S8MfmFLqdSc/herbert-hoover-and-freemasonry.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/02/herbert-hoover-and-freemasonry.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-3822988314767379864Mon, 19 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-02-20T09:34:06.362-08:00conspiracyFreemasonryhiddenhistorymasonicrjrobert h johnsontruthFreemasonry - Connecting It All<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>RWB Robert H. Johnson</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQwgb79gDsxCTVLt5B_JnMNAEhkl4J19kmST8BlVELeuST-oqYU" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="233" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQwgb79gDsxCTVLt5B_JnMNAEhkl4J19kmST8BlVELeuST-oqYU" /></a></div><br />Freemasonry--that age old fraternity that conspiracy theorists claim “control everything”. We say, "We don't know anything relating to a ‘World Agenda’". They say, "You're just not high enough in the order." But what if for the first time ever, a Freemason, me, told the truth about how it's possibly all true? I guess, there's just no great way to begin, so I'll just illuminate all of you, right here, right now. In abbreviated form, keep reading for the truth.<br /><br />In the beginning, man was simple, relating more to the side of primates. In fact, we lived alongside primates of every kind. Life on Earth was a paradise. Not in the sense of paradise like we know it to be, but in the sense of a well maintained eco system of flora and fauna. This was the case of course until the arrival of a sizable force of aliens had arrived. <br /><br />These aliens did in fact, alter the human DNA while here. Perhaps to make docile workers in order to mine gold for their home world. There were many races, dwarfs, fairy types, giants or nephilim, elves and more. Even the mixed races like satyrs and minotaurs were among the creatures roving the lands. Humanity then revolted after a while, due to a few of the alien overlords giving man certain pieces of knowledge. They learned the truth! The wars that ensued are outlined in Hindu texts. Human kind then evolved and formed high societies. These societies formed huge kingdoms all over the Earth. <br /><br />Heretofore, I have referred to our planet as Earth, however all of these events I have described, happened before we were Earth. Before we were Earth, we were called Tiamat. It was a monstrous planet and all around it were technologically advanced civilizations, utilizing technologies that would seem foreign to us even now, because they were in fact thousands of years more advanced than our current evolution of humanity. <br /><br />These cities survive today as the mythical legends of Atlantis, Lemuria, Avalon, Shangri-La, and Camelot. At the apex of these civilizations existence, something truly remarkable and devastating happened. Nibiru, the mythical "Planet-X", a planet the size of our current Earth, and that has a wide elliptical path through our solar system, was identified as having been on a direct collision path with Tiamat. <br /><br /><div>Tiamat's leaders could do nothing to prevent this. All was lost when Nibiru smashed into Tiamat killing almost all life and eradicating most traces of the mythical lands we read about. Nibiru's trajectory had forever been changed and in fact would never return to it's prior orbit. However this impact created two new bodies known today as Earth and the moon, the only remnant of the once giant paradise, Tiamat. The rest of Tiamat is observable as our very own asteroid belt. Space debris.<br /><br />Mankind's cellular DNA was spread all over the leftover mass of planet. Fast forward millions of years man develops and evolves yet again and civilizations like the Ancient Egyptians eventually discovered some of the high technology of our previous incarnations. These technologies were developed into teachings, which were so powerful, so life changing, they were only given to the priests and kings. These were the beginnings of the mystery schools. These schools eventually were adopted by many other cultures like the Greeks as the Dionysian rituals and to the Romans in their Mythraic cult which worshipped Sol Invictus.<br /><br />The gods of old, the legends of Enoch, the legends all around the world of gods or watchers or angels, came to Tiamat and gave us civilization. Whether it was Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan, Wan Hu, King Arthur, Hiram Abif, Thoth, Hermes Trismegistus or the mythical Jack Burton and David Lopan, they were here.<br /><br />Freemasonry became the home of this hidden history and this is how we control the world. We practice the teachings discovered by the ancients, handed down to us from the unknown superiors and ....I almost had you. Almost. <br /><br />-RHJ<br /><br /><b style="color: white; font-family: &quot;; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #ff9900;"><u>RWB, Robert Johnson&nbsp;</u></span></b>is the Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. He currently serves as the Secretary of Waukegan Lodge No. 78 where he is a Past Master. He also serves as the District Deputy for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) <a href="http://wcypodcast.blogspot.com/">Whence Came You?</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.masonicradiotheatre.com/">Masonic Radio Theatre</a> which focus on topics relating to Freemasonry. He is also a co-host of <a href="http://themasonicroundtable.com/">The Masonic Roundtable</a>, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of four, works full time in the executive medical industry and is also an avid home brewer. He is currently working on a book of Masonic essays and one on Occult Anatomy to be released soon.<br /><br /><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/Tu1Awws38lA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/Tu1Awws38lA/freemasonry-connecting-it-all.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/02/freemasonry-connecting-it-all.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-4105337754166977370Fri, 16 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-02-16T06:28:41.944-08:00baseballDarin A. LahnersFreemasonryhistorymasonicSymbolismHiram at Bat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WB Darin A. Lahners</b></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Many of my fellow Midnight Freemasons have no idea that I belong to another secret society. Ok – so it’s not really a ‘secret society’, but I play in a draft simulation league using the Diamond Mind Computer Baseball Game along with 20 other so like – minded individuals. Our league has a ‘Reunion’ each year at our annual draft. Normally, we have at least 7 of us owners get together in person, while the others are in a chat room. We draft players that have made their MLB debut in the past year, or that are on the Free Agent List. I had the number 1 overall pick this past year, and selected NL Rookie of the Year, Cody Bellinger. But enough about my league and team, if you’re really interested in this, you can visit my league at: <a href="http://www.midleague.com/">http://www.midleague.com/</a>. My team is the Spartans in the Yount Division.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Every February when Pitchers and Catchers report for Spring Training, hope springs eternal for every baseball fan. As a long suffering Cubs Fan, every year was ‘This is the Year!’ for me. Thank the Great Architect that in 2016 my prayers were answered and we won the World Series breaking a 108 year drought. Just think about the number of Master Masons that were raised during that time! But would you believe that there are some more Masonic connections?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When it comes to our National Pastime, there have been many players and executives that have been Freemasons. The list includes: Grover Cleveland Alexander, Ethan Allen, Charles Albert "Chief" Bender, William Benswanger ,Tyrus "Ty" Cobb, Mickey Cochrane, Branch Rickey, Authur "Dazzy" Vance, Denton T. "Cy" Young, Carl Hubbell, Honus Wagner, Alexander Cartwright, Jr., Rogers Hornsby, Mordecai ‘3 Finger’ Brown, John Franklin 'Home Run' Baker, and Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr., and “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks, among others. A performer of one of the most famous poems about Baseball: ‘Casey at the Bat’, William DeWolf Hopper, was also a Freemason. Although Abner Doubleday is credited with inventing the game of Baseball, there’s evidence that this is false. Most Baseball Historians actually credit Alexander Cartwright Jr. , a Freemason, with having a role in developing the “Knickerbocker Rules” upon which the modern game rules are based. However, an article in SABR magazine in 2014 call this into question (<a href="http://sabr.org/research/creation-alexander-cartwright-myth">http://sabr.org/research/creation-alexander-cartwright-myth</a>). Like Freemasonry, it seems that the actual origin of Baseball is mysterious.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There is no doubt though, that Freemasonry must have had a hand in the creation of Baseball. The baseball diamond itself is a Square. Furthermore, the Square and Compass can be imagined upon the Baseball Diamond. The Square extending down the first base and third base foul lines from home plate , while the compass overlays it being formed by drawing an imaginary line starting at second base extending towards first and third base. The semi-circle of the outfield walls would be drawn with the compass. The “G” resting on the pitcher’s mound.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SWsaCzipwsw/WobqYv00EjI/AAAAAAAAF0U/tE0ChnPnPg0DLtb88Iy8E-nLhD3C__WYQCLcBGAs/s1600/Wrigley_Field_on_July_24%252C_2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SWsaCzipwsw/WobqYv00EjI/AAAAAAAAF0U/tE0ChnPnPg0DLtb88Iy8E-nLhD3C__WYQCLcBGAs/s1600/Wrigley_Field_on_July_24%252C_2015.jpg" /></a></div><br />Furthermore, the way in which the baseball diamond is laid out, evokes the Masonic Lodge. You have bases in the four cardinal directions, East, North, West, South. The lodge is laid out in a similar design, but instead of a square, it is in an oblong rectangle from East to West, between North and South. In fact, you could almost think of the pitcher’s mound being in the same place as the Altar. The field is cut in a checker board pattern, evoking the Mosaic Pavement which reminds us of human life checkered with Good and Evil. At Wrigley Field, home of my beloved Chicago Cubs, you have the Ivy which returns year after year, evoking the memory of the Acacia sprig. Furthermore, there are four stations in the Lodge, The Worshipful Master in the East, The Senior Warden in the West, The Junior Warden in the South and The Tyler. If one considers The Tyler’s duty, to guard the lodge from those that are not initiated, you can see the duty of Catcher as being similar. The Catcher has to guard home plate, to try to keep the other team from scoring.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HluviMZxR8Q/Wobqf7CEdKI/AAAAAAAAF0Y/QwBLk14KIMQj8lLeoX7nLsScRSTPTaG5gCLcBGAs/s1600/Squareandcompassbball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="400" height="241" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HluviMZxR8Q/Wobqf7CEdKI/AAAAAAAAF0Y/QwBLk14KIMQj8lLeoX7nLsScRSTPTaG5gCLcBGAs/s320/Squareandcompassbball.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />But there are further allusions. Baseball like Masonry, is a system of ritualistic rules. Like the candidates move from Station to Station during a degree, the runners move from base to base. There are three bases in Baseball around which the player must travel before going home and scoring a run. There are three degrees in Freemasonry that a Candidate must proceed through before becoming a voting member of his home lodge.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Like in Masonry, numbers play an important role in Baseball. The number 3 and number 9 hold special significance.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">According to Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry:&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;">“Everyone is aware of the singular properties of the number nine, which, multiplied by itself or any other number whatever, gives a result whose final sum is always nine, or always divisible by nine. Nine multiplied by each of the ordinary numbers, produces an arithmetical progression, each member whereof, composed of two figures, and presents a remarkable fact; for example:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 10</div><div style="text-align: left;">9 . 18 . 27 . 36 . 45 . 54 . 63 . 72 . 81 . 90</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The first line of figures gives the regular series, from 1 to 10. The second reproduces this line doubly; first ascending from the first figure of 18, and then returning from the second figure of 81. In Freemasonry, nine derives its value from its being the product of three multiplied into itself, and consequently in Masonic language the number nine is always denoted by the expression three times three. For a similar reason, 27, which is 3 times 9, and 81, which is 9 times 9, are esteemed ax sacred numbers in the advanced Degrees.” Is it any wonder then that baseball rules call for:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">· 3 strikes</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">· 3 outs</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">· 9 fielding positions</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">· 9 innings</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">· 27 outs</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">· 81 games at home</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">· 81 games on the road</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This might also explain why baseball is so adherent to statistics. In the past 30 years, you have seen a movement towards a study of advanced statistics called SABERMETRICS, which is the application of statistical analysis to baseball records, especially in order to evaluate and compare the performance of individual players. Arithmetic or mathematics, being one of the seven liberal arts and sciences, hold a special place in Freemasonry.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Of course, there’s no direct proof of Freemasonry having influence over America’s past-time. However, there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence. Maybe the next time you watch a baseball game, you’ll look at it in a new light. There can be no denying though, that like Freemasonry, Baseball has spread throughout the world. Like Freemasonry, it brings together men of every race, creed and background. Is there anything more Masonic than that?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">~DAL</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB Darin A. Lahners</span></u></i></b> is the Worshipful Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL). He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of the new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D. and is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign – Urbana (IL). He is also a member of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. When he’s not busy enjoying Masonic fellowship, Darin spends his time as a DM for his children’s D&amp;D campaign, reading, golfing, watching movies and listening to music. You can reach him by email at <a href="mailto:darin.lahners@gmail.com">darin.lahners@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/Ymu52w5-T0E" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/Ymu52w5-T0E/hiram-at-bat.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)1http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/02/hiram-at-bat.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-1964285934338931700Wed, 14 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-02-14T05:00:02.962-08:00Bill HoslerFreemasonrythe 50 year member seriesThe Fifty Year MemberThe 50 Year Member - A Menace to Freemasonry <div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WB Bill Hosler</b><br /><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lodgedevotion.net/_/rsrc/1323398341870/devotionnews/education-editorial-articles/the-gift-of-yourself---a-christmas-story-2011-11/statlerwaldorf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.lodgedevotion.net/_/rsrc/1323398341870/devotionnews/education-editorial-articles/the-gift-of-yourself---a-christmas-story-2011-11/statlerwaldorf.jpg" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="191" /></a></div><br /></div>“I SAY THEY ARE A MENACE!” Herb Johnson said as he banged his fork on the dining room table accentuating each word by pounding the table, “THOSE KIDS ARE RUINING THINGS!” With enough force the vibrations knocked over a salt and pepper shaker sitting near him. “See! This is why we can’t have nice things!” Mike Bailey said breaking the tension caused by Herb’s temper tantrum.<br /><br />“I swear Herbert your screaming about “those kids” makes you sound like a Scooby Doo villain!” The whole table laughed, and everyone turned to look at Pudge who was choking on his beef and noodles through the laughter. Bailey continued “If you don’t calm yourself you are going to give yourself a heart attack.” Herb began to sit quietly and began to spread butter on a piece of white bread quietly while muttering something under his breath. <br /><br /></div><div>“I hate to agree with Herb but honestly they have caused me issues.” The building manager Jerry Kelly said “I have found graffiti in the men’s restroom which I’m pretty sure was caused by one of the boys. Someone painted “Demolay” in spray paint on the back wall of the temple. I tell you that was a pain the clean off.” <br /><br />Jerry continued, “The biggest problem I have is wax. After every meeting there is candle wax all over the lodge room floor from all those candles they use in their rituals. I’ve actually ruined several vacuum cleaners by accidentally sweeping over all that blasted wax!”<br /><br /></div><div>“SEE!” Herbert screeched “They are constantly running through the hallways and wrestling in the museum room. They even take the manual freight elevator and leave it on the top floor. Several of us have had to climb all those stairs to get the elevator and bring it down to the ground floor again! Those girls aren’t much better either!” Herb's shrill voice continued to raise in volume and in shrillness: “They are constantly asking the lodge for money for this trip and for that trip. They are always having one fundraiser or another and leaving dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. Do they expect us or the Eastern Star to follow them around and clean up after them? We aren’t their parents.”<br /><br />“You aren’t anymore Herb, but I can remember when your sons and daughters were involved in the youth groups that meet here.” The 50 year member said while he sat down with his food. “Why, I can remember several members complaining about the same petty things then, as you are complaining about now. Seems to me Herb, I remember you standing up in the middle of the lodge defending those boys when your son Herb Junior was Master Counselor about…. Hmmm twenty five years ago?”<br /><br />Herb began to breathe quickly as his eyes appeared to grow several sizes larger in his head, sweat ran down his forehead while his hands began to shake. The entire table grew nervous about the old Past Master's medical condition as he began to speak.<br /><br /></div><div>“Umm...now John that was a different case entirely back then.” Herb said in a quiet, weak voice. “They were just boys being boys they never meant to cause any harm.”<br /><br />The Fifty Year member rolled his eyes and shook his head “I’m sure it was completely different Herb.” The old man continued “You knuckleheads really surprise me. You really, really do. Sometimes I think we might as well turn in our charter and turn this building into one of those coffee houses that are popping up around town!”<br /><br /></div><div>The men sitting at the table began to squirm in their chairs as the Fifty Year member continued: “Think about it guys. Almost every man in this lodge came to us from Demolay. So many of us in this lodge met our wives when they were young girls serving as members of the Jobs Daughters and Rainbow girls.”<br /><br />“I can say that the first time I danced with a girl was on the floor of that ballroom next to where we are sitting right now. And it was many years before I was able to attend a high school dance.” Many of the men began to smile as their minds drift back to that same time in their lives. “If you think about it, most of the Demolay boys from that time got married to those cute little Rainbows or Jobies, we became the next generation of Masons in this lodge and they grew up to be Eastern Stars. I will admit we might have lost a couple of generations but, by golly many of these young men are bringing their children to join and I can almost envision the cycle beginning again.”<br /><br />“Jerry, you mentioned how many problems the kids have caused you in the maintenance of the temple, but let me ask this; How many times have those some young boys and girls helped you by volunteering to work on the building on weekends?” Jerry lowered his head “Quite a few, John. They have helped paint the walls of the lodge rooms and the ball room and helped me strip and reseal all the floors. They have also cleaned out all the junk from the basement and the attic. Actually, they help out a lot. It really saves the building committee a lot of money by not paying out labor.” The old man smiled “How many of our Masons were there on these weekends?” Jerry laughed “Oh, maybe one or two...”. The whole table laughed.<br /><br />“That’s what I thought,” The old man continued “And I bet I could call the Star’s Worthy Matron and she would tell me the same thing about the number of times the girls have helped them cooking and cleaning and baking cookies for their bake sales. But apparently these children, or as they should be called according to you guys, "Menaces to society" seem like they are a pretty valuable asset to this organization to me.”<br /><br />“Brethren, you are right. They are a bit unruly at times. But after all they are children they need our guidance to become better men and women. If you stop and think about it guys, that’s why we all are here: To become better men. We just happen to be further down that level of time then they are. They need us for guidance as much as we need them to help perpetuate the membership of this lodge. It’s the perfect circle of Masonry.”<br /><br />“Jerry, I’m sure if we found some nice brass discs or nice plates we could catch that wax instead of it falling on the floor of the lodge room.” The Fifty Year member said. “I’ll talk to the Chapter’s Dad. I bet we can come up with something.” Jerry replied.<br /><br /></div><div>“I don’t know about the rest of you,” Mike Bailey said as he wiped his face with a napkin “But I am going to get me a piece of blackberry pie and a cup of coffee before we open the lodge. Herb, I’m not sure you need any sugar, and you sure don’t need any coffee! You are wound up enough. If we give you any more stimulants you won’t quit talking and we will be in lodge until midnight!” The whole table began to laugh Herb replied with a bit of mischief in his voice, “Mike I can handle pie and coffee better than that belt you are wearing can. It looks like it's going to give way and explode at any moment!” as the table began to laugh even harder.<br /><br />Pudge stood up and began to walk to the lodge room with the Fifty Year member “Honestly,” Pudge said “I think these guys and their back and forth insults are the circle in Masonry.” The old man laughed “Oh it’s a circle all right but these stooges are more the Imperfect circle instead of the perfect circle.” The old man laughed and said quietly to Pudge, “Funny thing is the joke is on all of them. I took the last piece of pie before I sat down. They are all out of luck.” Both men laughed themselves silly as they walked into the lodge room.</div><div><br /></div><div>~BH</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #ff9900; font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;utopia&quot; , &quot;palatino linotype&quot; , &quot;palatino&quot; , serif; font-size: 14px;"><b style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><u>WB Bill Hosler</u></b></span> was made a Master Mason in 2002 in Three Rivers Lodge #733 in Indiana. He served as Worshipful Master in 2007 and became a member of the internet committee for Indiana's Grand Lodge. Bill is currently a member of Roff Lodge No. 169 in Roff Oklahoma and Lebanon Lodge No. 837 in Frisco,Texas. Bill is also a member of the Valley of Fort Wayne Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in Indiana. A typical active Freemason, Bill also served as the High Priest of Fort Wayne's Chapter of the York Rite No. 19 and was commander of of the Fort Wayne Commandery No. 4 of the Knight Templar. During all this he also served as the webmaster and magazine editor for the Mizpah Shrine in Fort Wayne Indiana.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/H8e65-yRLcY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/H8e65-yRLcY/the-50-year-member-menace-to-freemasonry.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/02/the-50-year-member-menace-to-freemasonry.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-1340058849528643687Mon, 12 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-02-12T05:00:39.655-08:00adam thayerexperimentFreemasonryThe Three Apprentices: An Experiment- Chapter One<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WB Adam Thayer</b><br /><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/files/2014/06/Elizabethan-Medieval-Clip-Art-137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="422" height="320" src="https://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/files/2014/06/Elizabethan-Medieval-Clip-Art-137.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><br /></div><div>I recently took the first of my three apprentices. That is probably a bit of an obscure statement to most people, so please allow me to explain.<br /><br />In the Schaw Statutes, which laid out some basic rules for Operative Masons, and set the groundwork for the transition to Speculative Masonry, there is a rule that is often overlooked, and I have only very rarely heard it discussed. It reads, “No master shall take more than three 'prentices in his lifetime, without the special consent of all the wardens, deacons, and masters of the sheriffdom in which the to-be-received 'prentice resides.”<br /><br />Of course, in terms of Operative Masonry, this statute makes great logical sense: to protect the reputation and income stream of the order. If anyone could become a stonemason, the supply would quickly exceed the demand, and income for the working masons would quickly drop. Even worse, if someone less than reputable performed shoddy work at an inflated price, all stonemasons would suffer for it; for anyone needing a modern example, consider the auto mechanic. While most mechanics are good, honest people making a living, there are some who use their specialized knowledge to rob from those who don’t know any better, and so in the eyes of the general public (and especially stand up comics), all mechanics are out to “rip us off.”<br /><br />The Schaw Statutes go on to further lay out some rules for apprenticeships, such as the term (fourteen years total, which may be abridged by a vote of the lodge), how the Master should care for the apprentice (he can’t, for instance, sell him to another Master), and some fines for breaking these rules (40 pounds, or approximately $11,234 in today’s money, if the University of Wyoming can be trusted to calculate the inflation properly). While this information is definitely interesting from a historical perspective, and is worth your time to read over, it doesn’t directly pertain to the topic of this paper and can safely be ignored for now.<br /><br />Is there a value to following this same guideline today? If you’ve read any of my other papers, you know I don’t ask a rhetorical question like that unless I plan to address it in a way that supports my intention for writing the paper. But first, as is usually my habit, I’m going to go on a long winded rant that will describe the problem in enough detail that even those unfamiliar with the situation can understand why the solution is important.<br /><br />In my few years of Masonry, I have seen many men get rushed into Masonry, and then, for various reasons, leave again. Some of them went on to be a part of the higher grades of Masonry, such as the various Rites, some were absorbed directly into the Shrine, but many of them just disappeared, never to be heard from again.<br /><br />Now, I know we’ve all talked about the “membership issue” from many different thought processes (I personally like “we’re not declining, we’re refining”), but this is one angle that I haven’t seen discussed yet: what a WASTE that system is.<br /><br />It’s a waste of a man who, if given the proper guidance and training, may have been an amazing asset to the lodge. It also means that if he ever does receive what he came to us for (improvement of self through esoteric knowledge), it won’t be from us, and we are supposed to be the experts on the topic!<br /><br />Equally bad, it’s a waste of our time, and I can’t speak for you, but my time is severely limited. In addition to the time spent on the degrees themselves, there is the time the lodge spends practicing in preparation, and the time each brother spends individually practicing to give the candidate the best degree possible. (At least, I really HOPE you are, and if you need any motivation as to why you should be giving the best degree possible, go read my paper titled “On The Membership Issue or: Why The Troma Rules of Products Doesn’t Apply to Freemasonry”) That time is time that I could use for a dozen other things, like writing papers, or playing with my daughter. I definitely don’t want to waste it on someone who isn’t going to stick around.<br /><br />“Someone who isn’t going to stick around”... That sentence sounds so much like I’m blaming the candidate for leaving us, but the truth is, it’s very rarely his fault for leaving, it’s almost always our fault for not keeping him. Shame on us.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, what is the solution?</div><div><br /></div><div>I truly believe that most men today come to Masonry to receive deeper learning that will help them improve themselves, even if they can’t put it into words, and all throughout the degree process we work directly with them, teaching them some basics, and promising they will learn everything once they have completed their degrees. Once they have finished their degrees, we tell them “Well, you get out of it what you put into it” and then turn our focus to the next candidate. What message does that send our new brothers? “Hey, we got you in, now you’re not important to us any more.”<br /><br />Some of the smarter lodges will assign a mentor, who will work one-on-one with the candidate during the whole degree process, to help him memorize the ritual work he will have to recite, and even answering the occasional question, if it isn’t too complicated. This man will continue to work with the new brother until after he has completed his Master’s proficiency, but will most likely move on to the next as soon as that is finished.</div><div><br /></div><div>To paraphrase Andrew Ryan, I reject those answers; instead I choose something different. I choose the impossible. I choose apprenticeship.</div><div><br /></div><div>It may seem that taking an apprentice isn’t really that different from being a mentor, however there are some key differences. “Apprentice” implies first that he will be learning everything I know to teach him, not just the memory work for his proficiency. Now, I’ll grant that I know only a small portion of everything there is to know Masonically, but it is my hope that in the process of teaching, I’ll also be learning from him, and so we both become better Masons for it!</div><div><br /></div><div>“Apprentice” also implies a longer process; the Schaw Statute recommends seven years of teaching followed by seven years of practicing before he can move from an apprentice to a fellow of the craft. Unfortunately, I don’t believe our Grand Lodge would be ok with me holding a man as an EA for seven years, and even if they did, I don’t know that I have enough to teach on a single degree for that long. Instead of seven years, let’s decide on “longer than the one month per degree that most men experience.”<br /><br />Since (per the Schaw Statute) we are limited to three apprentices in a lifetime, I must be significantly pickier about who I choose for this process, as making a mistake in the selection means a large waste of time and resources, and it also means that someone who would benefit more from it is missing out. Note, I do plan to stick to this very strictly, unless (as Schaw later allows for) there is an extremely extenuating circumstance, in which case I will seek guidance from my three apprentices as to how they believe I should proceed. I will be turning to them instead of to all the masters and wardens, because I have no idea how large my sheriffdom is.<br /><br />Finally, “apprentice” implies a significantly more intimate connection than a mentorship under the current process achieves. It is my hope that by the end of the apprenticeship, his family and my family have become friends, and that he and I are truly like brothers because of our shared experiences studying. In short, I hope that we have become what our founders envisioned us to be.<br /><br />There are still a lot of unanswered questions, things I’m not quite sure how to tackle, but I’m hoping that once we get started it will become an organic process. I also imagine there will be quite a lot of adjusting course as we go along, so I’m trying to keep my plans flexible. As I said in the title, this is an experiment. Hopefully, the results will inspire some of you to try it as well, and the details of the process will help you avoid some of my pitfalls.<br /><br />So, as I said at the start, I’ve taken the first of my three apprentices. His name is Neil, and over the next year or so you will get to experience his journey along with him, both through my observations (again, remember this is an experiment), and through his own words. His Entered Apprentice degree is in the very near future, so we will have quite a lot to talk about in the near future!</div><div>Until then.<br /><br /><b style="color: #e69138; font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;">WB Adam Thayer</b> is a grumpy-ish past master of Oliver #38 in Seward, NE and Lancaster #54 in Lincoln, NE. He continues to be reappointed to the Grand Lodge of Nebraska Education Committee, as well as being an occasional host on the Whence Came You Podcast. He may be reached directly at <a href="mailto:adam@wcypodcast.com">adam@wcypodcast.com</a> or summoned by placing a certain number of lapel pins in a special pattern around a petition for an appendant body.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/3st8qUgLTXk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/3st8qUgLTXk/the-three-apprentices-experiment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/02/the-three-apprentices-experiment.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-7302812483807527485Fri, 09 Feb 2018 14:31:00 +00002018-02-09T06:47:38.610-08:00Benjamin FranklinFamous FreemasonQuotesTodd E. CreasonThe Importance Of A Good Reputation<div style="text-align: center;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><i>by Midnight Freemasons Founder</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Todd E. Creason 33°</b></div><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false" DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="371"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" 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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif; border:none;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l2YLEL4Sxbw/WlN-tn4i4nI/AAAAAAAAMwI/THpN2cSEo1MnMoRYo2MYwJEBUJmUeJmjACLcBGAs/s1600/Franklin.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="1344" height="212" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l2YLEL4Sxbw/WlN-tn4i4nI/AAAAAAAAMwI/THpN2cSEo1MnMoRYo2MYwJEBUJmUeJmjACLcBGAs/s320/Franklin.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div><div align="center" class="Body" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation,&nbsp;</span></b></span></div><div align="center" class="Body" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">and only one bad one to lose it.”</span></b></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><br /><div align="center" class="Body" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">~Benjamin Franklin</span></i></span></div><div class="Body"><br /></div><div class="Body"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One thing that was pounded into young men in my generation was the importance of building a good reputation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It’s hard work, because your reputation is the public reflection of your character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It is what other people see and come to believe about you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It’s based on what you do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It’s based on what you say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It’s based on how you act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It’s based on how you treat other people, and how you make other people feel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>There are few things more important than reputation when it comes to our success, or our failure as a person. It can take years to build a reputation—it can take mere seconds to destroy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It is something we should be very deliberate about building, and very careful about protecting because it is the essence of who we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>And it’s very difficult to rebuild a reputation after you’ve allowed it to become tarnished.</span></div><div class="Body"><br /></div><div class="Body"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I don’t deserve the reputation I have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></b></span></div><div class="Body"><br /></div><div class="Body"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I hear that a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It’s very rarely ever true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>You see, you can have a few people in your life that have an unfavorable opinion of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Everyone does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>But your reputation is what most people that know you think of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>If you have a reputation of being opinionated and outspoken, chances are you’re opinionated and outspoken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>If you have a reputation for being undependable, you’re probably undependable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Sometimes people don’t think that’s fair—but reputation is based on a very sound principle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It’s based on your past behavior, and any employer or supervisor will tell you that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="Body"><br /></div><div class="Body"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I’m going to to say what I want to say, and do what I want to do, and I don’t really care what other people think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></b></span></div><div class="Body"><br /></div><div class="Body"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I hear that a lot, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Sounds very tough and defiant, but actually it’s a childish attitude to have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>That selfish and narcissistic attitude demonstrates a complete lack of care or concern for other people—most specifically those that love you and care about you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Your reputation reflects on you, sure, but you don’t think it also reflects on your spouse?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>On your kids?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Your family?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Your community?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Your church?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Your fraternity?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Your employer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>You’ve never heard anybody say, “she’s a real nice lady, but her husband is a real jerk.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>You’ve never heard somebody say, “I don’t know why he hangs around with that guy—he’d steal the shirt right off your back.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Of course you have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Your actions affect everyone around you whether that’s your intention or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="Body"><br /></div><div class="Body"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Building a solid reputation is hard, because it requires an amazing amount of self discipline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It requires us to learn from our mistakes and not continue to repeat them—those are the lessons that mature into wisdom eventually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It requires us to learn when it is important for us to speak, and when it’s better to remain silent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It requires us to to listen to others, and respect their point of view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It requires us to admit when we are wrong, and to apologize when it’s appropriate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It requires us to be truthful and honest in all of our dealings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It requires us to do the things we say we’re going to do regardless of how difficult the task may be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="Body"><br /></div><div class="Body"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Men of good reputation and solid character used to be more common than they are today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We don’t teach the value of it anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Our society is so focused inward on ourselves, and our own selfish needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We are a society of grown children, fighting and arguing on social media just like children used to fight and argue on the playground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We’ve never grown up and become men, because we haven’t had the role models.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>And just like children, we don’t think about what we’re saying, and we don’t think about what our words and actions are saying about us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="Body"><br /></div><div class="Body"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We’d all be better off if we worked a lot harder at building ourselves as decent human beings rather than focusing so intently on satisfying our <span style="font-family: inherit;">own </span>needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>And those of us who are able should focus on not only modeling those honorable character traits, but teaching others to be men of good character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Men of good report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Men of unquestioned reputation.</span></div><div class="Body"><br /></div><div class="Body"><span style="font-family: inherit;">~T<span style="font-family: inherit;">EC</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Originally posted on the<a href="http://toddecreason.blogspot.com/"> From Labor To Refresh</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://toddecreason.blogspot.com/">ment</a> blog</span> January 9th, 2018</span> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: orange;">Todd E. Creason, 33°</span> </span></b><i>is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor.&nbsp; He is the award winning author of several books and novels, including the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Todd-E.-Creason/e/B002HFWHUM/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1343539240&amp;sr=8-1">Famous American Freemasons</a> series. He is the author of the <a href="http://toddecreason.blogspot.com/">From Labor to Refreshment</a>blog.&nbsp; He is the Worshipful Master of Homer Lodge No. 199 and a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754.&nbsp; He is a Past Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees.&nbsp; He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research. (FMLR) and a charter member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282.&nbsp; You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org</i></span></span> </span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/4D0rwYiPW3s" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/4D0rwYiPW3s/the-importance-of-good-reputation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Todd E. Creason)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/02/the-importance-of-good-reputation.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-6852652300581924848Wed, 07 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-02-07T06:19:41.354-08:00civilityFamous American FreemasonsJohn WayneTodd E. CreasonBrother John Wayne On Political Discourse<div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Midnight Freemasons Founder</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Todd E. Creason, 33°</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6mjaiwZyssE/Wnhe34XhsFI/AAAAAAAAMyo/X9W2W-PmiFki44ElbxorkcDLr94HbhaYQCLcBGAs/s1600/John%2BWayne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1170" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6mjaiwZyssE/Wnhe34XhsFI/AAAAAAAAMyo/X9W2W-PmiFki44ElbxorkcDLr94HbhaYQCLcBGAs/s400/John%2BWayne.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“This is a good country. With good people in it. Good people don’t always agree with one another. Maybe the best thing we can do in this country is agree to disagree every once in a while.”</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">~John Wayne</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Marion McDaniel Lodge No. 56, Tucson, Arizona&nbsp;</span></span></i></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">John Wayne was never shy about expressing his <span style="font-family: inherit;">opinions</span> when it came to politics. He was a conservative, and a life-long Republican. He supported candidates that shared his great love of America, and those values that make America great. He was a patriot at heart, and developed friendships with many American Presidents, starting when he campaigned for Eisenhower. Then&nbsp; Nixon. Ford. Reagan.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">His friendship with Richard Nixon was probably the closest. They exchanged letters frequently, and got together on many occasions. Shortly after Nixon won the election in 1968, the Duke wrote to him and said he better watch himself, because he was thinking about running for President himself. Nixon responded, “Duke is a better title than President!”&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, even though he was a Republican, he respected every President that was elected by the people and sat in the Oval Office. He sent a telegram to John F. Kennedy after he was elected saying, “Congratulations, sir, from one of the loyal opposition.” He did the same with Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter replied to his telegram, “I trust the only area in which we will find ourselves in opposition is that of Party loyalty. I will need your help in<span style="font-family: inherit;"> t</span>he coming years, and hope to have your support.” Carter invited the Duke to Washington, DC to participate in his inauguration ceremonies, and John Wayne accepted.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">When John Wayne died in 1979, it was none other than Jimmy Carter that put what the nation was feeling over the loss of the famous actor into words. He said to the nation, “John Wayne was bigger than life . . . He was a symbol of so many of the qualities that make America great.”&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Somewhere along the way, we have forgotten something that John Wayne understood so well. We are all Americans, and we should always show respect to each other. And we should always put our Country before our politics.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;~TEC&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: orange;">Todd E. Creason, 33°</span> </span></b><i>is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor.&nbsp; He is the award winning author of several books and novels, including the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Todd-E.-Creason/e/B002HFWHUM/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1343539240&amp;sr=8-1">Famous American Freemasons</a> series. He is the author of the <a href="http://toddecreason.blogspot.com/">From Labor to Refreshment</a>blog.&nbsp; He is the Worshipful Master of Homer Lodge No. 199 and a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754.&nbsp; He is a Past Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees.&nbsp; He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of </i><nobr><i><a class="pxInta" href="http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/p/regular-contributors.html#" id="PXLINK_3_0_2">Research</a></i></nobr><i>. (FMLR) and a charter member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282.&nbsp; You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org</i></span></span><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/npuKmdulEFU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/npuKmdulEFU/brother-john-wayne-on-political.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Todd E. Creason)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/02/brother-john-wayne-on-political.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-2540925224244592474Mon, 05 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-02-05T05:00:11.974-08:00boy scoutsDarin A. LahnerseagleFreemasonrymasonmasonicscoutingThe Eagle Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WB Darin A. Lahners</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://danwoog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/eagle-scout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="325" height="320" src="https://danwoog.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/eagle-scout.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br />I recently had the honor of participating in an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for the son of my Senior Warden at St. Joseph Lodge #970. What made the event even better is that it was held in our lodge room. I have known this young man since he was a cub scout, and it was a personally moving experience for me and others to see him grow to be an outstanding young man, and to achieve this rank. Since its founding in America, The Eagle Scout has been awarded to 2.5+ million men. Only 4 percent of Boy Scouts make it to this rank. Unfortunately, this author is not one of them. I am what is commonly known in Scouting circles as “Life for Life”, meaning I obtained the rank of Life Scout, but did not make Eagle. I am a graduate of the Woodbadge adult leadership program, which is thought of the Adult equivalent of Eagle Scout for Scout Leaders. <br /><br />Freemasonry and Scouting have a strong relationship. There were several Freemasons in particular that were instrumental in Scouting’s foundation. <br /><br />Daniel Carter Beard (Founder of the Sons of Daniel Boone, who the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award is named after)<br /><br />William D. Boyce (Founder of the Boy Scouts of America and the Lone Scouts of America)<br /><br />Frederick Russel Burnham (The man who inspired Baden-Powell to make scouting)<br /><br />E. Urner Goodman and Carroll A.Edson (Founders of the Order of the Arrow)<br /><br />Even though Lord Baden Powell (who was Scouting’s Founder) wasn’t a Freemason, he was a Knight of Grace of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. This organization which sprung up from the Knights of Malta, traces its linage back to the Knights Hospitaller of medieval times. They would have fought together with the Templars (and by some accounts against them) during the Crusades and most likely shared esoteric knowledge found during the Crusades. The Knights Hospitaller were established first in 1070 A.D. managing a hospital for sick pilgrims in Jerusalem. The Knights Templar were founded around 1118 A.D., when the Knights Templar were disbanded in 1312 AD, much of the Templars property was given to them. There were also quite a few Templar knights which would have joined the order to escape persecution. One can surmise that some of the rituals and beliefs of the Templars would have influenced them, and would have been passed down through the Knights of Malta. Much like the influence of the Templars upon the Scottish Freemasons is said to have been passed down to us. <br /><br />It then stands to reason that the influence of the Templars upon both the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and the Freemasons would be similar philosophies. Lord Baden Powell is said to have stated that he did not join the Freemasons because he didn’t want to offend Roman Catholic scouts, but he seemed to approve of Freemasonry. One could only then assume that Lord Baden Powell used some of the principles that he was taught through being in the Order in laying out Scouting’s philosophy. He was also close friends with Freemason Rudyard Kipling, who had a heavy influence on the formation of the Cub Scouts. <br /><br />Both Freemasonry and Scouting require a belief in God, but both leave that interpretation up to the individual to define. Both organizations share the principle of service to others. They also share the ideal of self-improvement. Freemasonry and Scouting also share moral values. Fellow Midnight Freemason and Eagle Scout Greg Knott illustrates this with a comparison of the Scout Law to Freemasonry here: <a href="http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2014/11/a-scout-isa-mason-is.html">http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2014/11/a-scout-isa-mason-is.html</a>. This is also apparent in the Eagle Scout Challenge that I was given to read during the Court of Honor. It reminded me of the charge to the candidates in the First degree. The Eagle Scout Challenge I read is below: <br /><br />“The Boy Scouts of all nations constitute one of the most wholesome and significant influences in the world's history. You have been declared worthy of the high rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. All who know you rejoice in your achievement.<br /><br />Your position, as you well know, is one of honor and responsibility. You are a marked man. As an Eagle Scout, you are expected to exemplify in your daily life the high principles and values expressed in the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. You have assumed a solemn obligation to do your duty to God, to your country, to your fellow scouts, and to all other human beings. This is a great undertaking which you are now just beginning. As you live up to your obligations you bring honor to yourself and to your brother scouts.<br /><br />As an Eagle Scout, you will be a champion to other scouts and be an example to your community. Remember, your actions will be more conspicuous. People will expect more of you. It is your responsibility to help maintain the high regard that all Americans have for Eagle Scouts. To falter would bring discredit, not only to you, but to your fellow Eagles. Keep your ideals high and your honor bright.<br /><br />Your responsibilities, however, go beyond your fellow scouts. They extend to your country and to your God. America has many good things to give you, and to give your children after you; but these good things depend, for the most part, on the quality of her citizens. Our country has had a great past. You can help make the future even greater.<br /><br />I challenge you to undertake your citizenship with solemn dedication. Be a leader, but lead only toward the best. Lift up every task you do, and every office you hold, with a high level of service to God and to your fellow human beings. Live and serve so that those who know you will be inspired to the highest ideals of life.<br /><br />I challenge you to be among those who dedicate their hearts and hands to the common good. Build America on the solid foundations of clean living, honest work, unselfish citizenship, and reverence to God. Then, whatever others may do, you will leave behind you a record of which you may be justly proud.”<br /><br />In Illinois, the charge to the candidate in the first degree deals with using the volume of Sacred Law as a tool to learn the duties the candidate owes to God, his neighbor and himself. It also speaks about what it means to be a good citizen, teaching him to obey the law, be allegiant to his Country, and to not subvert the good order of society. It charges him to practice the domestic and public virtues as an individual. Finally, it reminds him that his behavior reflects on Freemasonry as a whole.<br /><br />As you can see, Freemasonry and Scouting share many of the same ideals. It stands to reason then why so many Freemasons like myself were once Boy Scouts. You can also see more of Freemasonry’s influence in the ritual for the Order of the Arrow, which is an honor (“secret”?) society of the Boy Scouts of America, but I will save this topic for a future article.<br /><br />~DAH<div><br /><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB Darin A. Lahners</span></u></i></b> is the Worshipful Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL). He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of the new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D. and is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign – Urbana (IL). He is also a member of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. When he’s not busy enjoying Masonic fellowship, Darin spends his time as a DM for his children’s D&amp;D campaign, reading, golfing, watching movies and listening to music. You can reach him by email at <a href="mailto:darin.lahners@gmail.com">darin.lahners@gmail.com</a>.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/12zqCT-PiMM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/12zqCT-PiMM/the-eagle-challenge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)1http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/02/the-eagle-challenge.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-6191146557406609639Fri, 02 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-02-02T05:00:06.276-08:00complacencyFreemasonryGuest Contributorkevin homanmasonicmotivationparallelStar WarsAre We Looking at Our Own Jedi Moment?<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>by midnight Freemason Guest Contributor</i></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Kevin Homan, PM</b></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--q1eIessz--/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_900,q_80,w_1600/xgc4sm5ow4aksoiq6wy1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--q1eIessz--/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_900,q_80,w_1600/xgc4sm5ow4aksoiq6wy1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was lucky this last year that I got the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s off so it was nice to spend the week with my family and not have any work to worry about. On the Tuesday after Christmas we went out and watched Coco as a family. My wife and I both made the mistake of chopping onions towards the end of the movie, and while its a wonderful movie, Coco isn’t the particular movie I’m talking about (but seriously go see it). I am, of course, referencing Star Wars here, as several days later my son and I finally went out and saw The Last Jedi. The movie seems to be polarizing to Star Wars fans, some liking the movie, others not. I happened to very much enjoy the movie, and while no movie is perfect, I found it very enjoyable and feel it really furthered the lore of the Star Wars universe. I also, a day later, found myself thinking about the movie, its relation to the Prequels (more on that shortly), and the relation between Freemasonry and the fictional Jedi Order.</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To begin, we go all the way back to the Prequels, a VERY sore subject for darn near 99% of Star Wars fandom (I happen to be in that 99%). However, I do think the prequels do get one thing right: the Jedi Order, and the rise of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. Now, it's easy to see the movies and just say “well, Senator/Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine was so powerful, that along with Anakin Skywalker as the most powerful Jedi, they took over the entire galaxy”. That’s all well and good, but it also ignores that the Jedi Order had Jedi who were just as powerful in the Force as Sheev Palpatine. In the Phantom Menace, when Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Master Qui-Gon Jinn first meet Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon instantly can “feel” that Anakin is Force sensitive. Furthermore, mention is made that the Order is able to detect Force sensitive children from birth, so it shouldn’t be too much of a leap to assume that Palpatine at some point should have come across the radar of the Jedi Order, yet he didn’t. Why? Fan theories and even the books have filled in a simple explanation, but the simplest explanation is...the Jedi Order became complacent, and forgot their ways. Their complacency was their downfall, just as it will be Freemasonry’s if we don’t do something about it.</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In short, Freemasonry, like any other organization has had its ups, and downs. Our most notable ups would be after World War I, and World War II. With the period after World War II seeing growth in both membership, as well as growth in Masonic buildings. We brought in members, enjoyed lavish buildings and filled our coffers, but largely acted as a men's club and not much else.&nbsp;</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Which brings us to today. Our buildings, which were once opulent, have either been sold or are in need of massively expensive overhauls from years of neglect. Our members are dying off. And year after year, Grand Lodges across the country are losing members in droves instead of adding replacements to keep us alive. What happened? Like the Jedi Order, we became complacent. Lodges deferred Temple repairs and updates at a time when it would have been more affordable and eventually put themselves in a bind, with decreased membership, and income low because dues hadn’t been raised. Lodges either had to sell their property or just let it continue to fester. Lodges that did attempt to raise dues either had a revolt, or the membership outright voted not to increase it. Comfortability in our surroundings led to complacency. We downsized buildings, merged Lodges or just outright closed them&nbsp;</span></span>altogether.<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Last Jedi struggles with another theme, that of, "We need a hero." We need a <i>recognizable</i> hero. Initially Rey doesn’t understand this, and the point isn’t hammered home until the very end of the movie (which I won’t spoil here) that it isn’t about Skywalker’s, Solo’s or Akhbar’s. The Last Jedi isn’t about a recognizable name from the past coming out of hiding to save the day. It’s about the future, Rey, and Finn and Poe. The Rebellion (now the Resistance) , the Jedi Order (and the Sith) are now in the hands of Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren. Luke, Leia and the rest did their job, they saved the day once already, but now it's time for a new generation to step up and do the same.&nbsp;</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This topic is something I see Lodges and Masonic organizations struggling with; We (naturally) focus on our generation, our friend groups and peers, when we should be instead, looking forward. This is not to say we should just ignore our peer group and only look to the younger generations to save us. It will take ALL of us to save us. But the point I’m trying to make is that interest in Freemasonry is out there among the millennial generation and we have millennials among our ranks. We need to cater our message to them to get them to come out in greater numbers. Many Lodges and organizations use Facebook, and to a lesser extent, Twitter, which is great and keeps us quickly on the same page, but these efforts need to go further. We need to make sure we don’t skip a generation; We need to bring in the millennials. And eventually the millennials will be who will is running the show and they will need to figure out how to speak to the generations that follow them.</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;"><br /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: inherit;">Freemasonry and its future hinges on what we do next. It hinges on us speaking to the next generation, to let them know it's “their time to lead”. If we can’t do that it may be the end of the Republic.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">~KH</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AhD_Jjq21Vc/WnPlYIZ5dyI/AAAAAAAAFxw/aGLhD0NhBZMLwVUe9EyNK2eYN8stM0A_wCLcBGAs/s1600/kevinHoman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AhD_Jjq21Vc/WnPlYIZ5dyI/AAAAAAAAFxw/aGLhD0NhBZMLwVUe9EyNK2eYN8stM0A_wCLcBGAs/s200/kevinHoman.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB Kevin Homan</span></u></i></b> was Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason in August of 2007 at Olive Branch Lodge No. 114 in Leesburg, VA., and since then has like many Masons, involved himself in more and more bodies. In addition to being a Past Master of Olive Branch Lodge, Kevin is a member of Potomac Chapter No. 88, RAM, Piedmont Commandery No. 26 and the Alexandria Scottish Rite Bodies. Additionally Bro Kevin is a member of several of the York Rite invitational Bodies. </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: inherit;">Bro Homan has been married to his wife Hillary for the past ten years and they have three wonderful (mostly) children. When he’s not doing something with his family or the Lodge Kevin enjoys a good glass of Scotch, the occasional cigar and reading a good book in his office, which “smells of leather-bound books and rich mahogany.</span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/b629RAFuBro" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/b629RAFuBro/are-we-looking-at-our-own-jedi-moment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/02/are-we-looking-at-our-own-jedi-moment.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-3170586238358292462Wed, 31 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-31T05:00:25.812-08:00Freemasonrymasonic educationTodd E. CreasonThe Aha Moment<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemasons Founder</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Todd E. Creason, 33° </b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WtsK1gyokZ4/Wm9Fh_qEt-I/AAAAAAAAMyY/sFHVdF5uBSEap7-iagI-OiL3WI3bIOPPgCLcBGAs/s1600/Piano%2Bhands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WtsK1gyokZ4/Wm9Fh_qEt-I/AAAAAAAAMyY/sFHVdF5uBSEap7-iagI-OiL3WI3bIOPPgCLcBGAs/s320/Piano%2Bhands.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Long before I was a Freemason, or a writer, I was a musician.&nbsp; I spent countless hours behind a keyboard perfecting my craft.&nbsp; I played in bands.&nbsp; I played in bars.&nbsp; I played everywhere.&nbsp; One of my first jobs was in a music store.&nbsp; I loved it then, and I still do.&nbsp; I also taught piano for many years.<br /><br />I enjoyed teaching.&nbsp; The vast majority of my students became proficient in playing the piano.&nbsp; A few went much further.&nbsp; A few of my students had that "Aha Moment" like I did as they practiced.&nbsp; For some it happened in a moment as if flipping a switch, and with a few it happened more slowly as their understanding of music and the instrument grew.&nbsp; The aha moment is when suddenly that student stepped beyond just playing the notes written on the page, and started to play music.&nbsp; You become a musician when the music becomes more than notes--when it becomes a form of expression.&nbsp; And that's when the student begins to take off, and soon the teacher isn't teaching basic skills anymore, they are teaching the student techniques for turning their passion into music.<br /><br />Very few music students have the aha moment.&nbsp; They learn to read the notes and play the music on the page proficiently.&nbsp; They play a saxophone in the school band, or play the piano in church on Sunday mornings.&nbsp; But music never becomes a form of self expression--for them the piano is a tool, and music is a skill.&nbsp; Not much different than learning to type a letter on a computer.&nbsp; <br /><br />I've had many aha moments in my life.&nbsp; I had it as a piano student the first time when suddenly everything clicked, and if I could hear the music in my head I could play it on the piano.&nbsp; I had it many years later one Sunday morning as I sat in church, when what I'd been listening to week after week suddenly rang true.&nbsp; And I had that aha moment in a Masonic Lodge a year or so after I was raised a Master Mason--that moment when I suddenly realized somewhere between the ritual and what I'd been reading that Freemasonry was much more than a Fraternity.&nbsp; I realized it was a way of life--a life changing path to a happier, more productive and meaningful existence!<br /><br />Like with my piano students from years back, the vast majority of Freemasons will never understand that completely.&nbsp; They'll never have that aha moment.&nbsp; Just like when I was teaching piano, it's impossible to know which ones will, and which ones won't come to that greater understanding of the Craft.&nbsp; We should go about teaching and mentoring every new Mason enthusiastically, because even the ones that never have that "aha moment" will still learn some basic concepts and skills they'll be able to benefit from and be able to use in life.<br /><br />But those few that do truly gain an understanding of Freemasonry as it was intended--well, they'll be transformed and forever changed by it.&nbsp; Those are the teachers, the mentors, the researchers, the writers, and the leaders of tomorrow.<br /><br />~TEC<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: orange;">Todd E. Creason, 33°</span> </span></b><i>is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor.&nbsp; He is the award winning author of several books and novels, including the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Todd-E.-Creason/e/B002HFWHUM/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1343539240&amp;sr=8-1">Famous American Freemasons</a> series. He is the author of the <a href="http://toddecreason.blogspot.com/">From Labor to Refreshment</a>blog.&nbsp; He is the Worshipful Master of Homer Lodge No. 199 and a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754.&nbsp; He is a Past Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees.&nbsp; He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research. (FMLR) and a </i><nobr><i><a class="pxInta" href="http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/p/regular-contributors.html#" id="PXLINK_4_0_3">charter</a></i></nobr><i> member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282.&nbsp; You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org</i></span></span><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/_t3o03pNp9M" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/_t3o03pNp9M/the-aha-moment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Todd E. Creason)1http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/the-aha-moment.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-3620503593033887554Mon, 29 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-29T05:00:27.526-08:00artGuest ContributorLodge HistorymuseumsTravis SimpkinsFrom The Museum To The Lodge<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="&#45;-"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div align="center" class="Standard" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Midnight Freemasons Guest Contributor</span></span></i></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div align="center" class="Standard" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Travis Simpkins</span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CtVpOX0aq0Y/WmiZLdbVtJI/AAAAAAAAMxM/_UX-zDKtdcM7VGZEeUIRTopUnpO5bpfagCLcBGAs/s1600/Morning-Star-Lodge-Worcester-MA-Pau-Revere-Masonic-Jewels-Isaiah-Thomas-by-Travis-Simpkins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CtVpOX0aq0Y/WmiZLdbVtJI/AAAAAAAAMxM/_UX-zDKtdcM7VGZEeUIRTopUnpO5bpfagCLcBGAs/s400/Morning-Star-Lodge-Worcester-MA-Pau-Revere-Masonic-Jewels-Isaiah-Thomas-by-Travis-Simpkins.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Since joining Freemasonry two years ago, I have often been asked what prompted my decision to submit a petition. I wasn't a very typical candidate. I didn't have a Masonic family connection and I didn't have any friends that I knew to be Masons. So, for me, it really wasn't a plain and direct choice. Rather, Freemasonry was a destination I found on a circuitous path that began in the galleries of a Museum.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then, as now, I was involved with several different museums: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester Historical Museum, the Massachusetts State House and I spent a great deal of time at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The art museums are encyclopedic collections that range from Ancient Art to Andy Warhol. The historical museum and the State House contain objects with a localized American focus. As someone who is equally interested in ancient cultures and colonial history, these collective institutions were the perfect places to be.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've been intrigued by everything related to ancient Egypt for as long as I can remember. Part of my museum assignments center on creating sketches of works in the collections and I still enjoy spending productive hours surrounded by archaeological treasures from Egyptian tombs. My initial interest in Masonic themes was fostered in those rooms. I don't recall the exact progression of studies that led me from one point to another, but references to Freemasonry's esoteric and stylistic influences are encountered frequently the more you look into the history of modern Egyptology from the 18<sup>th</sup>to the 20<sup>th</sup> Centuries. I have a curious mind, and through additional reading, I very quickly developed a respect for Masonic philosophy and practice. The concepts of self-improvement and a deep connection with history, which are so inherent within Freemasonry, were things that I found appealing and wanted to learn more about.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Masonic symbols and aesthetics interested me as well, and I'd spend a lot of time admiring a set of silver Masonic jewels created by Paul Revere in 1793 that were on display at the Worcester Art Museum. Also, a nearby gallery housed a collection of arms and armor that were inherited from the Higgins Armory Museum when it closed in 2013. Included among those objects was an early 19<sup>th</sup> Century ceremonial sword with a skull and crossbones on the hilt, utilized in the 28<sup>th</sup> Degree (Knight of the Sun) of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. My interest was piqued.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">While watching a Masonic-themed documentary, I was impressed with the insights of one of the presenters, Dr. Mark Koltko-Rivera. I contacted him, explained who I am and that I was interested in learning more about joining. Brother Mark not only provided me with information, but he also directed me towards another valuable resource: Christopher Hodapp. Bro Hodapp was very helpful and his book, Freemasons for Dummies, was the catalyst in me taking the first step.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iO7aHrHmQTQ/WmiZM-I6O3I/AAAAAAAAMxQ/cYUso7ET1ykua88khiN2Gi9dpez9hGGRACEwYBhgL/s1600/Egyptian-sketches-by-Travis-Simpkins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="1200" height="196" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iO7aHrHmQTQ/WmiZM-I6O3I/AAAAAAAAMxQ/cYUso7ET1ykua88khiN2Gi9dpez9hGGRACEwYBhgL/s400/Egyptian-sketches-by-Travis-Simpkins.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In beginning the process of looking at local Lodges, I felt compelled to revisit the Paul Revere jewels at the museum. I had looked at the aesthetics of the jewels many times, admired their beauty, but I hadn't looked very deeply into their background. I suppose, because they were so old, I just assumed that the Lodge from which they originated was no longer active. After taking note that the pieces were on loan from Morning Star Lodge, I looked them up online and discovered that the Lodge was not only still active but that it was located within a mile of my downtown apartment. I did some more research, reading through the long history of Morning Star Lodge, and was fascinated by it's connection to the patriot Isaiah Thomas and other notable figures within the community. That was it. A few days later I sent an email to the Secretary, met with the Brethren and here I am. I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">After relaying that brief story to fellow Freemasons, they usually ask if there is really much Masonic Art on display in an art museum. The answer is: It depends on how loosely you define the term. Much of what we would consider “Masonic Art”, like tracing boards and such, won't be found in the galleries of a non-specialized collection. However, there are many pieces that fit into the overall theme. Some of the other items I see on a regular basis, not mentioned above, include a medieval Chapter House brought over stone-by-stone from France, Babylonian carved reliefs, Crusader-era swords, a tapestry depicting Godfrey de Bouillon, portraits of George Washington, a cornerstone set in a Masonic ceremony by Paul Revere, marble statues of Gods &amp; Goddesses, dozens of paintings portraying the Holy Saints John and Classical styles of architecture utilized within the museum buildings themselves. There's always plenty there if you look for it.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">When mentioning museums and Masonry together, I've found that I am preaching to the choir much of the time. However, I also meet many Brothers who never visit museums. They'll ask what relevance museums might have to an average Masonic Lodge today. Some correlations should be obvious, but my basic viewpoint is that the quest for enlightenment is not by any means a one-way street. If Museums led me to Masonry, certainly it could work the other way around. A couple things come to mind. One is simply practical. Much of Masonic Ritual centers on events, allegorical or not, which take place in Ancient History. The distant past is often an abstract concept to fathom, hard to visualize, and it helps to place things in a relatable context. Objects in museums provide a tangible association with the past, a physical connection with history. Another aspect of Museums appeals to the core purpose of Freemasonry, namely self-improvement... the very thing which initially drew me to the Craft. Walking through the galleries of a Museum, one is surrounded by the wondrous creativity of mankind. And I've found that by looking at the great achievements of others, we can come to discover the true potential within ourselves.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">- TS</span></span></div><div class="Standard"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRtBuDA2stI/WmiZN9rEWXI/AAAAAAAAMxU/l3Rf6lotqNIdYooeyuk6833QCqhnuHRXgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Travis-Simpkins-George-Washington-Masonic-Memorial-statue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="623" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRtBuDA2stI/WmiZN9rEWXI/AAAAAAAAMxU/l3Rf6lotqNIdYooeyuk6833QCqhnuHRXgCEwYBhgL/s200/Travis-Simpkins-George-Washington-Masonic-Memorial-statue.jpg" width="146" /></a></div><div class="Standard"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bro. Travis Simpkins is a freelance artist with clients throughout the United States and Europe. He currently works on projects for the Supreme Council, 33°, NMJ in Lexington, Massachusetts. He also serves as a portrait artist for the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Grand Lodge of New Jersey and other jurisdictions across North America. Bro. Simpkins is a member of Morning Star Lodge A.F. &amp; A.M. in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is a 32<sup>° </sup>&nbsp;Mason in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, NMJ- Valleys of Worcester and Boston. He is also a member of&nbsp; Eureka Royal Arch Chapter, Hiram Council of Royal &amp; Select Master Masons and Worcester County Commandery No. 5, Knights Templar. </span></span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/keCScSiRw58" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/keCScSiRw58/from-museum-to-lodge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Todd E. Creason)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/from-museum-to-lodge.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-4198789908866945426Fri, 26 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-26T05:00:26.338-08:00attendancebowling alonebusinesseducationFreemasonFreemasonrymasonicmembershipnumbersSteve HarrisonFreemason-ing Alone<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/07.27.00/gifs/bowling-0030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/07.27.00/gifs/bowling-0030.jpg" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="350" height="185" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2000, Harvard professor and political scientist Robert D. Putnam published a book entitled "<i>Bowling Alone</i>."&nbsp; For a time, the book was all the rage in membership-based organizations as it attempted to explain, via an abundance of numbers, charts and graphs, the reasons for and effects of the decline of social interaction in our society.&nbsp; The book became less the rage when readers found it offered more on the whys and wherefores and less on how to reverse the trend.&nbsp; This trend, I might add, has continued its downward spiral since the book came out.</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Putnam used the following bowling analogy to illustrate his premise: while the number of people who are participating in the sport of bowling has increased (<i>Really? Meh, if he says so</i>), participation in organized bowling leagues has declined.&nbsp; We are, therefore, "bowling alone."</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, let's channel this over to Freemasonry: while interest in Freemasonry has increased (<i>Really? Meh, if I say so*</i>), participation in organized Freemasonry has declined.</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*Come on. You have to give me this one. It is, after all the age of the "Belluminati."&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://bit.ly/2B40Thu" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">http://bit.ly/2B40Thu</span></a></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I got to thinking about this while reading Robert Johnson's article, "<i>What If We Actually Did Masonry?</i>"&nbsp; (<a href="http://bit.ly/2rcttOi"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">http://bit.ly/2rcttOi</span></a>). In it, RWB Robert wondered what would happen if, instead of running business-saturated Lodge meetings like we do now, we used the bulk of each meeting for Masonic education.&nbsp; The more I read, the more I kept thinking, "attendance would go down even more."</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fortunately, Robert backed me up on that: "<i>What would happen if we ALL changed the order of business, so that Masonic Education came right after the opening? What would happen if we spent twenty, thirty, dare I say an hour on a topical presentation complete with questions and answers with discussion from the brothers?&nbsp; ...The chances are we would lose a lot of members by doing this.</i>"</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Part of the issue is our society has become so "over-the-top."&nbsp; Back in the day I could go to a rock concert and watch the band simply set up and rock on.&nbsp; Today, for the attention-span-challenged, that same band on tour has to have flash, pyrotechnics and videos behind it while it plays.&nbsp; We expect so much more.&nbsp; If we held Woodstock today, we'd have to set the stage on fire and launch the space shuttle behind Country Joe and the Fish.&nbsp; Try adding that kind of glitz to an hour-long discussion of "the symbolism of the point within a circle."</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The other issue is that our boring meetings compete with the likes of 70-inch big-screen TVs with practically any movie ever made available any time we want it.&nbsp; Add to that the constant buzz of activity on our smart phones, which sometimes includes 24/7 availability for our jobs and, oh yeah, the small matter of our family activities.&nbsp; You want to match all that against a lengthy discussion of a point within a circle? Without pyrotechnics?</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With all the activity and excitement happening around us we stay home glued to our cell phones and have less real social interaction.&nbsp; We bowl alone.</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So what could we do to stem this tide?&nbsp; Easy… We could get rid of all TV's, smart phones, the Internet and especially those fidget-spinners and go back to the time when our grandfathers had nothing to do for social interaction and entertainment but go to a Lodge meeting; and, by the way, do you think granddad's Lodge spent an hour on Masonic education?</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, we can't go back, can we?&nbsp; But we can take advantage of what we have.&nbsp; If you want Masonic education, go get it.&nbsp; We don't have to depend on our Lodges for it.&nbsp; And more than granddad, who had to borrow a book or go to the library, we have the world at our fingertips.&nbsp; Listen to podcasts like "<i>Whence Came You</i>" or "<i>The Masonic Roundtable</i>." Read Masonic blogs like… hey, you're doing it right now.&nbsp; Do some research and write an article or two.&nbsp; Who knows where this can lead?&nbsp; Maybe — and I know this is radical — one evening you can take your Brothers by surprise, stand up and present what you've learned in Lodge.&nbsp; Be careful.&nbsp; You should probably start out as if you're announcing a chili supper, then ease into your real purpose for speaking.</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The fact is if we don't get a lot of what we want in Lodge, the fix starts with each of us individually.&nbsp; It's just the way things are today.&nbsp; Look at that. We're just like the rest of society. If we want something other than business meetings and bean dinners, the hubbub, toys and distractions of modern-day society are backing us into a corner and forcing us to go "Freemason-ing alone."</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">~SLH</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="color: #ff9900; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, &quot;Palatino Linotype&quot;, Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px;"><b style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><u>Bro. Steve Harrison, 33</u></b></span></span><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">°</span></u></i></b> , is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships are the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35 year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons — Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.</div><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/RwBy0BTBYio" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/RwBy0BTBYio/freemason-ing-alone.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)6http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/freemason-ing-alone.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-4212329278021610757Wed, 24 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-24T05:00:03.207-08:00Bill Hoslercraftexpectationsfalse advertisingFreemasonrymasonicThe Sign Said, "Alterations"<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Bill Hosler, PM</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://marketguide.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/False-advertising-890x395_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://marketguide.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/False-advertising-890x395_c.jpg" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="800" height="142" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><br />The sign on the dry cleaners window said “We do alterations” down the street from the house we rented in our new town. We had several articles of clothing which needed to be cleaned and I had several trousers which needed alterations, so we stopped by the cleaners one evening before they closed to drop off our goods. <br /><br /><div>As the young lady was checking in the laundry items I mentioned to her I have these several pair of trousers which needed to be altered. “ Oh, we don’t do alterations” the girl replied. Shocked at her statement I pointed at the window behind me and said “But your sign says “we do alterations.” She muttered something to the effect that they used to offer the service but they don’t offer it anymore. This led me to feel angry and to certain extent like they were trying to fool me “False advertising” flashed through my mind. <br /><br />Since we couldn’t get the service their sign promised we collected our clothing and decided to go somewhere else. I walked out of the shop angry, and let down and to be honest feeling a bit cheated. What I felt was that, the shop lied and engaged in false advertising. Even now a year later when we drive by the establishment I look at and the sign is still in place and I wonder if other people were conned into shopping there by their falsehoods (Since there is no place else within an hours drive that provides this service I’m sure quite a few.)<br /><br />I’m sure many young men have watched the DaVinci code or National Treasure or read on the web about the cool things Masons do and how our teachings will make a “Good man better” and possibly have subsequently left the Fraternity, feeling the way I did as I exited that shop. You walk into a location expecting to receive the service advertised by the business and walk out disgruntled and confused. <br /><br />When a young man submits his petition and check for his initiation he expects to receive training and guidance in ways that will make him a better man, husband, father and maybe even a better citizen to the country in which he lives. Even more so, a more tolerant man who will learn to serve the deity in which he believes. Does a secretary reading three meetings worth of minutes, for thirty minutes make him a better man? About the same chance as putting a spatula in his hand and expecting Masonic enlightenment to find him while flipping pancakes will. <br /><br />Anyone who has ever counted on drawing new and returning customers to their business knows you will never satisfy every customer who walks through your door, but to intentionally or even unintentionally use untrue advertising to drive new business to your location will in many cases bring the opposite effect. It might cost you traffic.<br /><br />Everyone has heard of “Word of mouth advertising”, which is when each unsatisfied customer will tell his family or friends about his dissatisfaction (Or sometimes with is satisfaction) with your services and his experience could prejudice several people who might walk through your door. Think about how many times you have chosen, or not chosen a restaurant after looking at a businesse' Yelp reviews. So when we as Freemasons place “Making good men better” on all of our recruitment literature we had better be prepared to offer that service or we will continue to see our new new members walk right back out the door whence they came, and will tell their friends and coworkers, "...don’t bother joining." <br /><br />I guess my point is, if one continues to deliver bad service or engages in misleading advertising to a customer base, eventually you will anger most of your customer base and their experience will prejudice others willingness to give you a try. So when we tell young men we “Take good men and make them better.” and we give them shoddy degree work, baloney sandwiches to eat and luke warm Kool-Aide to wash it down before an evening of minutes and arguing over the price of paper towels for the mens room, it might be hard to explain that these things will make you a better man and these poor men will feel hurt and cheated. </div><div><br /></div><div>~BH</div><div><br /></div><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB Bill Hosler</span></u></i></b> was made a Master Mason in 2002 in Three Rivers Lodge #733 in Indiana. He served as Worshipful Master in 2007 and became a member of the internet committee for Indiana's Grand Lodge. Bill is currently a member of Roff Lodge No. 169 in Roff Oklahoma and Lebanon Lodge No. 837 in Frisco,Texas. Bill is also a member of the Valley of Fort Wayne Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in Indiana. A typical active Freemason, Bill also served as the High Priest of Fort Wayne's Chapter of the York Rite No. 19 and was commander of of the Fort Wayne Commandery No. 4 of the Knight Templar. During all this he also served as the webmaster and magazine editor for the Mizpah Shrine in Fort Wayne Indiana.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/UNbrjBdCkQU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/UNbrjBdCkQU/the-sign-said-alterations.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/the-sign-said-alterations.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-1294620090023614448Mon, 22 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-22T05:00:31.677-08:00campbelDarin A. LahnersFreemaosnryherojourneymasonicpop culturewisdomWe Can Be Heroes<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WB Darin A. Lahners</b><br /><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://selfsustain.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Heros-Journey-Joseph-Campbell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="800" height="191" src="https://selfsustain.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Heros-Journey-Joseph-Campbell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b><br /></b></div><br />In mythology, the monomyth or hero’s journey, is the common template of a broad category of storytelling that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, and returns a changed individual. Originally put forward by Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, the monomyth can be seen illustrated time and time again in Hollywood and popular novels. While Campbell originally had 17 steps to his monomyth, subsequent authors have broken it down into more summarized variations. For the purposes of today’s article, I’ll be using the adaptation of it made by Christopher Vogler. Christopher Vogler adapted the monomyth into 12 steps. The 12 steps can be summarized best below:<br /><br />ACT 1: Departure<br /><ul><li>The ordinary world</li><li>The call to adventure</li><li>Refusal of the call</li><li>Meeting with the mentor</li><li>Crossing the threshold to the special world.</li></ul>ACT 2: Initiation<br /><div><ul><li>Tests, allies and enemies</li><li>Approach to the inmost cave</li><li>The ordeal</li><li>Reward</li></ul>ACT 3: Return <br /><ul><li>The road back</li><li>The resurrection</li><li>Return with the elixir</li></ul>My article today will focus on the journey of a candidate through their Masonic Degrees, and how the monomyth applies. While ACT 2 takes place during all 3 degrees, it would be my argument that ACT 1 only applies before the candidates 1st degree, and that ACT 3 only takes place during the second section of the 3rd degree.<br /><br />ACT 1: DEPARTURE<br /><br />The ordinary world – This is where the hero exists before his adventure begins. The hero is oblivious to the adventure to come. In general, this part of the monomyth humanizes the hero so that we can identify better with them and empathize with them during their journey. Masonically, this would be a candidate prior to petitioning a lodge. <br /><br />The call to adventure – The hero’s adventure begins when they receive a call to action. This could be a threat to their safety, their family, or way of life in general. It could be as Dramatic as Luke Skywalker being shown the distress message from Leia Organa in Star Wars: A New Hope or as mundane as receiving a phone call. Masonically, this would happen when a candidate first thinks about joining the fraternity. Something causes his decision. For some of us, it could have been a friend or peer discussing Masonry. For others, it would have been a Father or Grandfather who was a Mason. Ultimately though, there is usually some outside force or circumstance which makes the candidate interested in joining Freemasonry.<br /><br />Refusal of the call – The hero has second thoughts about going on the adventure. Normally the Hero will have second thoughts or be conflicted about going, often refusing the call because it’s easier to sit at home and do nothing than to undertake a perilous journey. This would be the candidate prior to petitioning the lodge. They might be interested in joining, but ultimately as I said, it’s easier to stay at home.<br /><br /></div><div>Meeting with the mentor – It’s at this crucial point where the Hero needs some guidance and meets a mentor figure that gives him something that they need. They could be given some item, advice, training or self-confidence. The mentor’s role is to provide the Hero with the power to overcome his refusal of the call, and help the hero begin his quest. Ultimately, this would be when a candidate petitions the lodge. They either meet with a mentor or peer, or meet with several. The candidate is ultimately given the information that was needed to make them heed their call, and to petition the lodge. <br /><br />Crossing the threshold to the special world. – The Hero is now ready to begin their adventure. They may go willingly, or not, but they ultimately move from the world which is comfortable to one which is mysterious. This action ends ACT 1 and signifies the hero’s commitment to the adventure. The candidate literally undergoes this transition upon knocking three times at the door of the preparation room. They are in darkness and must commit their self to their ultimate quest, receiving the degrees of Freemasonry. They knock upon that door and once they are admitted, they cross the threshold from the ordinary to the extraordinary.<br /><br />ACT 2: INITIATION<br /><br /></div><div>Tests, allies and enemies – The hero is confronted with a series of challenges. Obstacles are thrown in their path, and the hero must overcome them as they journey toward their ultimate goal. The hero finds out who they can trust, who they can’t and they are prepared for the challenges ahead as well. Each obstacle helps us gain insight into the hero’s character, and helps us identify with them. This takes place upon the candidate’s first entrance into the lodge. They are received in due form and is challenged by the Senior Deacon. They are lead around the lodge by the Senior Deacon and interrogated by the Junior and Senior Warden. They are also led to the Worshipful Master, who does the same. <br /><br />Approach To The Inmost Cave - The inmost cave represents the location of the Hero’s ultimate challenge. As the hero approaches the cave, they may again face some doubts regarding their adventure. They may need to think about the next step, and ultimately find the strength to continue. For the candidate, this is when they make their turn to the East, their feet forming the angle of a square, standing erect before the altar. They are once again challenged to insure that their choice to approach remains the same as before. <br /><br />Ordeal – The penultimate conflict that the hero faces upon their journey. It might be a physical test of strength against an enemy, or a battle of wits. The hero must draw upon everything they’ve learned up until now in order to survive the challenge. Basically, the hero undergoes a life – changing event and comes out of it a better person. Now, ultimately the oaths that a candidate takes invokes a promise of physical harm if they knowingly give away the secrets of Masonry. I think the ordeal that the candidate undergoes is an internal one, and one that they must deal with daily going forward. The process of being brought from darkness to light, is a metaphorical and philosophical ordeal. It’s a challenge to the candidate to live your life one way going forward or face penalties for not doing so. Ultimately, you are facing yourself in battle when you take your obligation, because you’re forced to choose to live by the promises you swore, or to not. You might be tested by your promises daily, or maybe never, but you always have to be aware of what they are and to honor them. Being a Freemason is a full time job because when you represent yourself going forward, you also represent your brethren. That’s the ordeal we must face not only during our obligation, but also by trying to live it daily. <br /><br /></div><div>Reward (Seizing the Sword) – After overcoming the adversity of the ordeal, the hero is transformed into a new state. They are battle-tested and often end up with an item of great importance as a reward. The reward might be an object of great power, or a secret, greater knowledge, or reuniting with a loved one. In all cases, the reward prepares the hero for the final leg of their journey back to the ordinary world. Ultimately, the reward given to a candidate is the password, grip or token, due guard and sign, how to wear their apron and their working tools, as well as the explanatory lectures and charges for that degree. Everything that happens after the obligation in the 1st and 2nd degrees, after the obligation to the second section in the 3rd, and after the second section of the 3rd degree, is a reward to the candidate. They are imparted with knowledge and wisdom that they did not have prior to their entry to the lodge. They were in darkness, and have been brought to light both literally and metaphorically. In our case the reward is how to act like a member of our fraternity both while in lodge and out of lodge. <br /><br />ACT 3: RETURN<br /><br /></div><div>The road back – this represents a retracing of the hero’s steps in reverse order from Crossing the Threshold to receiving the call to adventure. As the hero’s journey draws to an end, they are now worried about adjusting back to an ordinary life in the ordinary world. However, the journey is not yet over. There are still potential challenges to overcome, and there might be a moment where the hero must choose between personal objectives or to answering to a higher cause. The best example of this would be in The Matrix, where Neo chooses to save Morpheus from the agents with the help of Trinity. This was foreshadowed by the Oracle telling him that he’d have to choose his life over that of Morpheus’s’. In the 3rd degree, this would be represented by the candidate’s journey beset with the 3 ruffians, whereby they try to pry the secrets of a Master Mason from them.<br /><br />Resurrection – This is the climax of the hero having to face his final and most difficult encounter with death. The final battle represents something far greater than the Hero’s own existence with the consequences being the fate of the world or universe which hang in the balance. Ultimately the hero will vanquish evil and save the day, and will be reborn either literally or metaphorically. Think of Luke destroying the Death Star, or Neo becoming the “One”. I think this is pretty self-explanatory to those that have gone through the 3rd degree. There is a deeply moving and profound thing that happens which transforms the candidate. Since our page is not tiled, and I assume we have some EA’s and Fellowcraft as well as “Profane” readers, I’ll not elaborate further. <br /><br />Return with the Elixir – This is the final stage of the Hero’s journey. The hero returns back to the Ordinary World changed. They will have grown as a person due to their experiences. They will obtain a final reward, which is either literal or metaphoric. There is a resolution for the hero, but also his allies and detractors. Ultimately, the hero is back to where they started, and nothing will be the same for them. The new Master Mason’s journey is also complete for now. They have received some final instructions, tokens, words. They are able to vote in their lodge, wear a Masonic ring, and begin a new journey to the East.<br /><br />So my brothers, I ask you: Are you not also a hero? Hasn’t each of us undergone this journey during our degrees? For some of us, like myself, I am close to the end of another journey, the journey to the East as being Worshipful Master of my lodge. The most important message that I can convey is to never let your Masonic journey end. Whether it be joining appendant bodies, or going through the chairs at your own lodge, there is an opportunity for each of us to be heroes. We just need to show up and do what is needed for the betterment of our lodge, community and ourselves. If someone out there sees you being a Masonic Hero, then maybe, just maybe, they might want to set out on their own adventure, and join our league of Heroes. I believe that our greatest advertisement is what message we deliver and represent. Maybe it’s time to stop hiding and to show the world what we are really made of. If we all can be heroes, then we might just be able to make the world a better place. I, for one, believe that can be the case. <br /><br />~DAL</div><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/VOOTQSywVaw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/VOOTQSywVaw/we-can-be-heroes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/we-can-be-heroes.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-5037812633516962688Fri, 19 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-19T05:00:42.493-08:00Bill HoslerFreemasonryFreemasonsmasonmasonicthe 50 year member seriesThe 50 Year Member - Some Assembly Ruired<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Bill Hosler, PM</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.clintondalefriends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/assembly-title-blog-960x350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.clintondalefriends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/assembly-title-blog-960x350.jpg" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="800" height="145" width="400" /></a></div><br />“You boys hurry up and get those things put away. When you're done come inside, I have warm cookies and cocoa for you.” The 50 Year member laughed. “Sometimes she talks to me like I’m one of her sons.” Pudge laughed. "I think it’s because she knows you are a big kid at heart.” The old man smiled, "I hope it’s that, and she isn’t slipping. By the way Pudge, I appreciate you spending your last holiday from work taking down my Christmas decorations. I know I haven’t added any new ones in years but it feels like it takes twice as long as it did a few decades ago.”<br /><br />“You're welcome Brother. But I hate to see all these decorations and the holidays go away. It’s weird, it seems like they arrive one day and then, BOOM, they're gone. It’s like they were never even here.” Pudge continued to roll up the string of Christmas lights. “I have been giving this a lot of thought, maybe it’s your influence on me, but the holiday season has made me think about Masonry.”</div><div><br />The 50 Year member chuckled. “So it’s my influence that makes you see the symbolism in things. I guess I should consider that a big honor!”, the old man said with a hint of sarcasm mixed with humor. “I guess that means you are listening to me and actually learning. So tell me how the holidays mix with Masonry. Is it the giving? The spirituality of these season?”<br /><br />Pudge took in a deep, nervous breath, “Well, I’ve been thinking how the season is a lot like joining Lodge for a lot of guys. They petition a lodge and it seems like forever waiting for the news, the petition to be accepted, then for the interview process and then the ballot, until the day finally arrives. Your excitement continues to build with each passing day until the first holiday, or, well the day the degree arrives.All in a sudden there are celebrations, decorations hanging everywhere. You enjoy yourself and begin to prepare for the next one, then that day arrives and you begin to look to the last one, this time with a bit of trepidation because you aren’t sure what the new year or in this case the Master Mason degree will bring. Then the holiday arrives and the next day it’s all over! It’s been done and it’s time to return to normal life.”</div><div><br />“For some fellas it’s just like today. All of the decorations are gone. Gifts are put away and it’s like nothing ever happened. Not one sign of the holiday season is left, like it was a dream. They continue to live their normal lives with Masonry only just another memory. No more of an effect on their lives as a Christmas from years ago did. Or worse yet, something bad happens to them like bad degree work or becoming disillusioned with the Craft, and that bad moment makes them turn their back on the holiday celebration, never to celebrate it again. Like Scrooge in the old Dickens book."<br /><br />The old man sat down the box of ornaments he was holding in his hands. He smiled as he looked at his young Brother. “Wow, I guess some of what I have said has been trapped between those ears. You really have given this subject some thought.” The 50 Year member stood erect. “My first thought, off the top of my head is, I think everyone has had a disappointing Christmas. I mean, think about when you were a kid and you didn’t get the present you wrote about in your letter to Santa. Or worse yet you told him about while you were sitting on his lap at the department store and he promised you that it would be under your tree. I think every person who has wanted something for a gift, Christmas or otherwise has been disappointed in something they have received. But then you move on hoping next year you will get what you want.”<br /><br />Pudges breathing grew quicker and a sharpness appeared in his voice, “See! That’s it! These guys are walking because they don’t like the gift they are given. They realize that Santa isn’t real and then they quit celebrating all together. It is just sad.”<br /><br />“It sure is sad, but let me ask you two things; One, are they sad about what they received, or two, are they disgusted that what they were searching for took longer than three days to magically appear? There is a big difference in the two.” <br /><br />The old man continued, “Let me ask you this. If I were to buy you one of those plastic model kits of a car, would you prefer to receive it un-assembled in kit form or should I paint the car, add the decals and assemble it first?” Pudges brow furrowed. I guess I would want to put it together myself. It’s more fun that way.” “Okay." Replied the 50 Year member. “Lets say I went out and bought you a fancy tool box and filled it with every hand tool I could find. Would you expect me to come over to your apartment and use those tools to fix your car for you?” Pudge laughed and said “Are you kidding? Heck no! I might ask you to help but I want to do my own work!”<br /><br />The old man smiled. ”I think you have answered your own questions. Freemasonry provides you the tools and the materials but you have to take what you are given and put it together yourself. What does it always say on a box with a new toy; Some Assembly required? We can be there for these men we can assist them, like the example about fixing your car, but we can’t do it for them. If that is what they are really looking for, to have the truth poured over their head like it’s a baptism, then sadly they will never be happy because they will continue to search but never find what they are looking for.”<br /></div><div>Pudge picked up several boxes of decorations and started to the old mans garage. “I guess the best holiday gift I could give them is to be there and help them with their Assembly work.”<br /><br />“Honestly Brother that’s the gift that keeps on giving for the entire year, or in your case youngster, a lifetime, or at least what is left of my lifetime.” The old man said with a laugh.<br /><br />Pudge retorted, "If you keep working so slow that won’t be long, as cold as it is out here.” with a smile on his face, "Lets get done. I’m ready for those cookies and cocoa your wife mentioned.”<br /><br />~BH</div><div><br /></div><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB Bill Hosler </span></u></i></b>was made a Master Mason in 2002 in Three Rivers Lodge #733 in Indiana. He served as Worshipful Master in 2007 and became a member of the internet committee for Indiana's Grand Lodge. Bill is currently a member of Roff Lodge No. 169 in Roff Oklahoma and Lebanon Lodge No. 837 in Frisco,Texas. Bill is also a member of the Valley of Fort Wayne Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in Indiana. A typical active Freemason, Bill also served as the High Priest of Fort Wayne's Chapter of the York Rite No. 19 and was commander of of the Fort Wayne Commandery No. 4 of the Knight Templar. During all this he also served as the webmaster and magazine editor for the Mizpah Shrine in Fort Wayne Indiana.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/5lGU7S7bMRU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/5lGU7S7bMRU/the-50-year-member-some-assembly-ruired.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/the-50-year-member-some-assembly-ruired.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-2882683825542434296Wed, 17 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-17T05:00:28.519-08:00Homer Lodgelibraryroad tripTodd E. CreasonA Midnight Freemasons Road Trip<div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Midnight Freemasons Founder</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Todd E. Creason, 33°</b> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qebljrsPUD8/Wlkm6JS1xRI/AAAAAAAAMwo/8P5jyIxTKRAgqIIVxTK_aBaOx9dVcrOugCLcBGAs/s1600/Homer%2BLodge%2BRoad%2BTrip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qebljrsPUD8/Wlkm6JS1xRI/AAAAAAAAMwo/8P5jyIxTKRAgqIIVxTK_aBaOx9dVcrOugCLcBGAs/s400/Homer%2BLodge%2BRoad%2BTrip.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">left to right: Senior Warden Greg Knott, Katie Creason, Junior Warden Darin Lahners, and WM Todd E. Creason</td></tr></tbody></table></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We’ve been talking for some time about the possibility of starting a Masonic Library at our Lodge—Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL).&nbsp; Our Lodge over the last several years has gained a reputation as a Lodge that puts a particular focus on education.&nbsp; We even have a museum room in our Lodge, so a library seemed the next reasonable step.&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The focus on education is what saved our Lodge.&nbsp; Homer Lodge was chartered in 1856, and our building was built in 1892, but in 2011 we about closed it.&nbsp; The building needed an enormous amount of work, including a new roof, and there just weren’t many members <span style="font-family: inherit;">left</span> to help.&nbsp; In fact, we had a difficult time getting enough members at our regular meetings to open.&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fortunately, since the Lodge had nothing to lose but closing, we were able to try a few things to save it, and one of those things was to improve the meeting experience, and put a major focus on providing good quality education at every meeting.&nbsp; Our thought was that eventually, Masons from other Lodges might come to our monthly programs.&nbsp; We also hoped that a few might join our Lodge as dual members as well.&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here it is six years later, and the Lodge is beginning to see results.&nbsp; We’ve got a new roof, and a new mission.&nbsp; The entire Lodge has been cleaned and restored inside and out (less a little more work to do on one exterior wall).&nbsp; It is certainly one of the grandest Lodges in our area—the Lodge room itself is around 2,500 square feet with towering ceilings.&nbsp; We even turned what was once a room full of junk into a museum, where we’ve displayed many of the artifacts from our long history we found stored in the attic.&nbsp; In addition to that, there’s a new Royal Arch Chapter that has been formed, Admiration Chapter No. 282, with the same focus on education as the Lodge.&nbsp; The building is in use constantly.&nbsp; It’s been used by other local Lodges, the Knight Masons, the Allied Masonic Degrees, the Illinois Lodge of Research, the Shriners.&nbsp; Masonry has returned to Homer, IL in a big way.&nbsp; The Officers of the Grand Lodge of Illinois A. F. &amp; A. M. even came and rededicated the Lodge two years ago.&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">So we began talking about a library.&nbsp; As you know, books are expensive, and books on Freemasonry can be very expensive.&nbsp; We had just started talking about how we might finance a library, when I got a call—an email actually.&nbsp; It was from Noel C. Dicks, who was the Grand Master of Illinois when I became a Mason. &nbsp;&nbsp;He wanted to know if we’d ever thought about starting a library at Homer Lodge, because he knew a Mason, WB Bill Henry, that was looking to make some room in his basement by getting rid of a bunch of books he’d collected over the years on Freemasonry.&nbsp; </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sometime it happens that way!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2-5WeERpkBY/WlknGItQtsI/AAAAAAAAMws/swXXSBcs7GIz6a8NwG8s51WZ_Cc3HkeiwCLcBGAs/s1600/Homer%2BLodge%2BRoad%2BTrip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="319" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2-5WeERpkBY/WlknGItQtsI/AAAAAAAAMws/swXXSBcs7GIz6a8NwG8s51WZ_Cc3HkeiwCLcBGAs/s320/Homer%2BLodge%2BRoad%2BTrip.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">left to right: Darin Lahners, Todd E. Creason, Greg Knott, and library donor WB Bill Henry</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Shortly before Christmas, three Midnight Freemasons, who also happen to be the three principle officers of Homer Lodge No. 199, went on a road trip to pick up a load of books—over 70 volumes.&nbsp; It was an incredibly generous donation.&nbsp; Bill Henry’s collection will form the core of our new library that will be enjoyed by members of Homer Lodge for generations to come.&nbsp; And we plan to continue to add to our collection with the hopes that our library will become a place where new members and old can come and enhance their knowledge of our beloved Craft.</span></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Saving a Lodge is a lot of work, but as I’ve said before, once the light of Masonry goes out, it never returns.&nbsp; Sometimes it’s worth the hard work and effort to preserve that heritage at all costs.&nbsp; And I’ll give you one good reason why.&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We have a young Fellow Craft that is about to be raised a Master Mason.&nbsp; He wanted to join our Lodge in particular—it was a family tradition he wanted to bring back.&nbsp; When I gave him the tour of the building before he petitioned, he found photographs of his great grandparents hanging on the wall in our museum—both involved in an Eastern Star Chapter that met at Homer Lodge many years ago.&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">If Freemasonry changes <span style="font-family: inherit;">that young man's</span> life in the same positive way it has changed the lives of many of my Brothers, every drop of sweat has been worth it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">~TEC&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For your added enjoyment, h</span>ere's a<span style="font-family: inherit;">n episode of "Masonic Curators" that feat<span style="font-family: inherit;">ured Homer Lodge No. 199<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;">pres<span style="font-family: inherit;">ented by Sen<span style="font-family: inherit;">ior Warden <span style="font-family: inherit;">(and Mi<span style="font-family: inherit;">dnight Freemason Senior Cont<span style="font-family: inherit;">r<span style="font-family: inherit;">ibutor) Greg<span style="font-family: inherit;"> K<span style="font-family: inherit;">nott.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;</span></span></span> </span></span></div><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ndr-LZ7d2KU" width="300"></iframe> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: orange;">Todd E. Creason, 33°</span> </span></b><i>is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor.&nbsp; He is the award winning author of several books and novels, including the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Todd-E.-Creason/e/B002HFWHUM/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1343539240&amp;sr=8-1">Famous American Freemasons</a> series. He is the author of the <a href="http://toddecreason.blogspot.com/">From Labor to Refreshment</a>blog.&nbsp; He is the Worshipful Master of Homer Lodge No. 199 and a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754.&nbsp; He is a Past Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees.&nbsp; He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research. (FMLR) and a </i><nobr><i><a class="pxInta" href="http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/p/regular-contributors.html#" id="PXLINK_4_0_3">charter</a></i></nobr><i> member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282.&nbsp; You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org</i></span> </span></span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/7co2VfylcrA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/7co2VfylcrA/a-midnight-freemasons-road-trip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Todd E. Creason)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/a-midnight-freemasons-road-trip.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-5545326141987556515Mon, 15 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-15T06:59:06.934-08:00boringbusinessFreemasonryfulfillmentmasonicmasonic educationmeetingminutiarobert h johnsonRobert JohnsonWCYwhat ifWhat If We Actually Did Masonry?<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>RW Robert H. Johnson</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/08/27/636078543916622982-1960050009_Fans-What-If.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/08/27/636078543916622982-1960050009_Fans-What-If.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>We’ve all been there, a meeting where everyone has to put in their two cents regarding a charity event or a lodge repair. A discussion that lasts twenty minutes too long. Men informing the lodge that they “know a guy.”, who can do it cheaper, or perhaps raising the dues $5 a year is too expensive, or still yet, perhaps it's about how much money is going to be earmarked for the upcoming scholarships.<br /><br />I commend these brothers who dig into the nitty-gritty of lodge minutia. It’s something I’ve just never cared much about or felt I needed to contribute to. These guys are into it though, they do it without being prompted, they take ownership and are made sure their voices are heard.<br /><br />The title of this article alludes to the core mission of Freemasonry, to make good men better. Yes we’re charitable, yes we serve our communities, but what are we teaching our members about actually improving men? I addressed this concern in a previous piece which you can read <a href="http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2017/01/what-freemasonry-teaches-we-dont-know.html">HERE</a>.<br /><br />What if though?<br /><br />What if, that same gusto for discussing these things--building maintenance and pancake breakfasts, was had when we introduced Masonic Education? What if Masonic Education wasn’t met with eye rolls from around the lodge? What if people cared as much for Masonic Education as they do about the minutia? What if Worshipful Masters didn’t buckle under the stress of the membership, requiring Masonic Education to be a mere five minutes or less? What if we did what we’re supposed to do, and fulfill the membership in the Masonic way, through improvement and education? What if instead of being told that we should start a study club on off nights for Masonic Education, we embraced the present opportunity to affect all present?<br /><br />What would happen if we ALL changed the order of business, so that Masonic Education came right after the opening? What would happen if we spent twenty, thirty, dare I say an hour on a topical presentation complete with questions and answers with discussion from the brothers? Maybe we just change it so that it’s all education and only a couple bills? What would happen if these brothers were as engaged in the educational topic as they are about replacing the toilet seat, or procuring the free pancake mix from the local restaurant? Would the previous discussed minutia be then seen as the five minute bastard of the meeting? Relegated to the end, much like education is in too many lodges?<br /><br />The chances are we would lose a lot of members by doing this. In fact, because Freemasonry is many different things to many different people, the least of which is an educational system. To do these things would require some sort of drastic change within the organization. Perhaps the way to experience this for those interested is to start a new lodge based on these principles. <br /><br /><div>Recently there’s been some great conversation about members who are unsatisfied, starting their own lodges. In some cases, a Grand Lodge has asked the members, “Rather than walk away, why not start a new lodge?” Members took that advice. Members across the USA are taking that advice. <br /><br />Perhaps something that needs to be considered here is that Freemasonry should serve to fulfill its membership. Instead, what occurs is that the membership is largely guilted into not giving up on the current lodge, not walking away and actually to double and triple down and urged to join all the other appendant bodies. These extra organizations which are looking for anyone at all to convey the degrees upon, many times in an abbreviated form, just to get a warm body in a position. Bro. Scott S. Dueball made a case for this in his piece, “Blue Lodge First”, read it <a href="http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2017/04/blue-lodge-first.html">HERE</a>.<br /><br /></div><div>Above I asked a whole lot of questions, and in my imagination, I thought about the response I would likely get online and the things which would be talked about, if at all. I just couldn’t help but think to myself, that the response would be something like, “I wouldn’t go to lodge anymore.” or perhaps, “By doing education first or by pushing hard for Masonic Education like this, you’re being unbrotherly.” I don’t know how that would be true, but that's basically what I think I’d hear.<br /><br />I think those imaginary but prophetic responses I mentioned earlier are why the idea would never work. It’s why the membership that’s out there should just go ahead and start a new lodge if they want the educational kind of experience. Focus on what you want and leave the rest behind until they learn to attract you through additional fulfillment, not by begging you to show up. Have doubts about how this works? Check out Admiration Chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Eastern IL. Or ask Homer Lodge, also in Eastern IL about having education right after opening and letting it go for "...as long as it goes." according to Todd E. Creason, founder of the Midnight Freemasons. In fact recently, Todd had let me know that one of their chief detractors in the beginning of this effort, recently came to him and Greg Knott to tell them how much he now looks forward to the meetings.<br /><br />While some reading this might belong to an education focused lodge and have no issues, I assure you, you are the minority.<br /><br />I have said it before, and I will say it again. If Freemasonry is indeed a system which teaches good men to be better, then we better start having more education meetings than degrees and business combined. If we’re not doing this, we’re just lip service.</div><div><br />~RHJ</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/_sEys9D3EcE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/_sEys9D3EcE/what-if-we-actually-did-masonry.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)3http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/what-if-we-actually-did-masonry.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-4425415508732484421Fri, 12 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-12T05:00:10.759-08:00darinesotericFreemasonFreemasonrylahnersmasonicmasonrysacred feminineSymbolismSacred Feminine?<div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Darin A. Lahners</b></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Upon a recent viewing of the movie, The Da Vinci Code, I discovered something that had alluded me up until now. Dr. Langdon (played by Tom Hanks) was discussing the symbol of the sacred feminine with Sir Leigh Teabing (played by Ian McKellen). The feminine V which was presented reminded me very much of the Square displayed proudly daily on my Masonic Ring, which is intersected by a compass, with the Letter G in the middle. Is this accidental? Or like other symbols in Freemasonry – is there a hidden meaning to be found? </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pBcKdc-Qi6w/WlfhsedJx4I/AAAAAAAAFuQ/WhBV8pKR_y0uNZ5aSCX9acE-EzUU0jjzACLcBGAs/s1600/squareandcompass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="229" height="195" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pBcKdc-Qi6w/WlfhsedJx4I/AAAAAAAAFuQ/WhBV8pKR_y0uNZ5aSCX9acE-EzUU0jjzACLcBGAs/s200/squareandcompass.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In Illinois, The blazing star is described as one of the ornaments of a lodge, as being a hieroglyphic representation of Divine Providence. In more ancient traditions, it is represented as consisting of two equilateral triangles interlocked. The triangle with the apex pointed down was emblematic of the Creator, with the apex pointing down toward the created universe, whereas the triangle pointing up was representative of man, pointing toward God, the Creator. When intertwined as a six pointed star, they would form a single figure, the symbol of unity between God and his creation. However, even more ancient was the hexagram being representative of sexual union between man and woman. The triangle pointed downward representing the feminine and the other triangle representing the male.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1uCKgcQdYZk/Wlfh_JrOLlI/AAAAAAAAFuU/vgCUutiTSpEjFbFVsPiRWUZlYQbhbX3twCLcBGAs/s1600/sacredmassacrredfem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="104" data-original-width="250" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1uCKgcQdYZk/Wlfh_JrOLlI/AAAAAAAAFuU/vgCUutiTSpEjFbFVsPiRWUZlYQbhbX3twCLcBGAs/s1600/sacredmassacrredfem.jpg" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I know what you’re thinking. Don’t take my word for it.&nbsp;</span></span></div><div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hd0rBFIKOA4/WlfiEsIyrkI/AAAAAAAAFuY/gsxGlaXYZjsPFpbH3JOC2iwJqgypyoyfgCLcBGAs/s1600/mackey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="850" height="187" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hd0rBFIKOA4/WlfiEsIyrkI/AAAAAAAAFuY/gsxGlaXYZjsPFpbH3JOC2iwJqgypyoyfgCLcBGAs/s400/mackey.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So what does this have to do with the Square and Compass? The Square and Compass is a representation of the Blazing Star. You have the Feminine Square intersecting with the Masculine Compass. Within the Square and Compass, a diamond shape surrounds the Letter ‘G’. This diamond shape also is similar to the double pointed oval used to represent the Yoni, or female sexual organs. This is more easily seen in the symbol of the Knife and Fork degree. G-D being the seat of creation of all things, he is positioned within the overtly feminine symbol of the Yoni, which is also representative of creation.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x4AccVWEd3k/WlfnzI5l2nI/AAAAAAAAFu0/t8G4vxpmUeEOzMp57OaohkSJULSoJEQjQCLcBGAs/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="214" data-original-width="589" height="145" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x4AccVWEd3k/WlfnzI5l2nI/AAAAAAAAFu0/t8G4vxpmUeEOzMp57OaohkSJULSoJEQjQCLcBGAs/s400/Capture.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In Albert Mackey’s “The Symbolism of Freemasonry: Illustrating and Explaining its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths and Symbols.”, he explains: “<i>All the deities of pagan antiquity, however numerous they may be, can always be reduced to the two different forms of the generative principle—the active, or male, and the passive, or female. Hence the gods were always arranged in pairs, as Jupiter and Juno, Bacchus and Venus, Osiris and Isis.</i></span><i><br /></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>But the ancients went farther. Believing that the procreative and productive powers of nature might be conceived to exist in the same individual, they made the older of their deities hermaphrodite, (having both male and female genitalia) and used the term man-virgin, to denote the union of the two sexes in the same divine person</i>.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even in ancient Babylonian myth and early Hebrew myth, El , “God” – the supreme god of the Sumerians) and Yahweh shared the same consort, Asherah. According to Ronald L. Ecker, in his book “And Adam Knew Eve”: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">“In the Bible her name often appears as ha asherah, meaning "the" asherah. In such instances the reference is not to the goddess but to a symbol of her, an object (in the plural asherim) that was apparently a sacred pole, tree, or group of trees (hence the translation "groves") at Israelite sanctuaries or "high places" as well as by altars of Baal. The erecting of asherim was among the "evil" deeds of kings like Ahab and Manasseh, and cutting the things down was a regular chore of "right" kings like Hezekiah and Josiah.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">The presence of Asherah or her symbol at places where Yahweh, the biblical God of the Hebrews, was worshipped raises the question of whether the Canaanite goddess was considered also to be the consort of Yahweh.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">We know from references to, </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"the sons of God" (Gen. 6:1-4; Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7) </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"the host of heaven" (1 Kings 22:19) </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"angels" (Gen. 19:1; Ps. 103:20) </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">God’s statement "Let us make man in our image" (Gen. 1:26), </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">...that Yahweh was not alone in his heaven.</span></span><br /><br />We know also that Yahweh supplanted the Canaanite El to the extent that God’s other names in the Hebrew Bible include El, El Elyon ("God Most High"), El Shaddai ("God Almighty"), and the (originally) plural form Elohim (as in Gen. 1:1).”<br /><br />But the Square and Compass isn’t the only symbol within Freemasonry that refers to this idea. If we go back to Mackey’s "The Symbolism of Freemasonry: Illustrating and Explaining Its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths and Symbols..”: <br /><br />“<i>Now, this hermaphrodism of the Supreme Divinity was again supposed to be represented by the sun, which was the male generative energy, and by nature, or the universe, which was the female prolific principle.&nbsp;</i><i style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And this union was symbolized in different ways, but principally by the point within a circle, the point indicating the sun, and the circle the universe, invigorated and fertilized by his generative rays.&nbsp;</span></i><i style="font-family: inherit;">And in some of the Indian cave-temples, this allusion was made more manifest by the inscription of the signs of the zodiac on the circle</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ATgLYJXYw4/WlfiePOXp_I/AAAAAAAAFuo/hLNG2J8VtqshZZRv3wBhauASXPFSqONewCEwYBhgL/s1600/circumpunct.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="244" data-original-width="155" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ATgLYJXYw4/WlfiePOXp_I/AAAAAAAAFuo/hLNG2J8VtqshZZRv3wBhauASXPFSqONewCEwYBhgL/s200/circumpunct.gif" width="127" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mackey goes onto then give the following explanation: “<i>So far, then, we arrive at the true interpretation of the Masonic symbolism of the point within a circle. It is the same thing, but under a different form, as the Master and Wardens of a lodge. The Master and Wardens are symbols of the sun, the lodge of the universe, or world, just as the point is the symbol of the same sun, and the surrounding circle of the universe.</i></span><i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">But the two perpendicular parallel lines remain to be explained. Everyone is familiar with the very recent interpretation, that they represent the two Saints John, the Baptist and the Evangelist. But this modern exposition must be abandoned, if we desire to obtain the true ancient signification.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the first place, we must call to mind the fact that, at two particular points of his course, the sun is found in the zodiacal signs of Cancer (June) and Capricorn (December).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">These points are astronomically distinguished as the summer and winter solstice. When the sun is in these points, he has reached his greatest northern and southern declination, (a gradual falling off from a higher state) and produces the most evident effects on the temperature of the seasons, and on the length of the days and nights.</span></i></span><br /><i><br /></i><i>These points, if we suppose the circle to represent the sun's apparent course, will be indicated by the points where the parallel lines touch the circle, or, in other words, the parallels will indicate the limits of the sun's extreme northern and southern declination, when he arrives at the solstitial points of Cancer and Capricorn.</i><br /><i><br /></i><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kxlOzT-fzUw/WlfipAVZpxI/AAAAAAAAFuo/nHq1ekTZC1wu_FrzONQzHzGtbpcTva2GQCEwYBhgL/s1600/twoballcane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><i></i></a><br /><i>But the days when the sun reaches these points are, respectively, the 21st of June and the 22d of December, and this will account for their subsequent application to the two Saints John, whose anniversaries have been placed by the church near those days</i>.”<br /><br />Is it so far-fetched then to imagine that our mysteries then refer to the Great Architect of the Universe as being similar? Isn’t it possible that the ‘G’ within the Square and Compass refers to this more ancient understanding of the creator as encompassing both the Masculine and Feminine?<br /><br />Before your blood begins boiling, I want to point out that this wouldn’t be the only place in Freemasonry where we have symbols that refer to genitalia. As this isn’t a tiled page, I would just point out that all Master Masons should know what this refers to within our rituals. However, it also has a further allusion which should be clear to everyone in the context of this article. Yes my brothers, it is sublimely referring to the act of creation.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kxlOzT-fzUw/WlfipAVZpxI/AAAAAAAAFuo/nHq1ekTZC1wu_FrzONQzHzGtbpcTva2GQCEwYBhgL/s1600/twoballcane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="370" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kxlOzT-fzUw/WlfipAVZpxI/AAAAAAAAFuo/nHq1ekTZC1wu_FrzONQzHzGtbpcTva2GQCEwYBhgL/s200/twoballcane.jpg" width="196" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Of course, there are many explanations for our symbols. I’m just pointing out some coincidences between them and how the feminine has been represented. Many of these coincidences that Albert Mackey also understood. There are obviously many explanations for the symbols I’ve presented here. It is my goal to educate my brethren and for them to ultimately decide for themselves what they think.</div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">~DAL</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB Darin A. Lahners</span></u></i></b> is the Worshipful Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL). He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of the new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D. and is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign – Urbana (IL). He is also a member of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. When he’s not busy enjoying Masonic fellowship, Darin spends his time as a DM for his children’s D&amp;D campaign, reading, golfing, watching movies and listening to music. You can reach him by email at <a href="mailto:darin.lahners@gmail.com">darin.lahners@gmail.com</a>.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/72IdyYajdww" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/72IdyYajdww/sacred-feminine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/sacred-feminine.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-6835856595732146909Wed, 10 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-10T05:00:03.487-08:00childrenFreemasonrygenerationkidsnext genthayertimeFreemasonry and Fatherhood<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WB Adam Thayer</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dbwc.ae/media/event/time-and-stress-management.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.dbwc.ae/media/event/time-and-stress-management.png" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="200" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><br />I have a two year old daughter… I should probably start by telling you that, or the rest of this article will seem entirely like conjecture. If you have a child too, I hope yours came with better instructions than mine, because so far the only real advice I’ve received is “Try not to kill her, and you’ll figure the rest out as you go.” The fact that this was given to me by a total stranger (a nurse at the hospital), told me that I was in for a real challenge.<br /><br /><div>Freemasonry has a lot that it can teach us when it comes to raising our children. For instance, sitting through the reading of the minutes can teach us about patience, which is an invaluable skill when it comes to your two year old arguing with you about watching Finding Nemo for the twentieth time this week. And haven’t we all seen a grumpy Past Master throwing a temper tantrum that could rival a child?<br /><br />Now, I’ve never really been what you would call an overly emotional person. Sure, I cried tears of joy when the Cubs won the World Series (didn’t we all?), but never at weddings or a funeral, or even at the beginning of Up (which, I’m told, is incredibly sad for most people). I’ve noticed, however, that since Quinn has been born, there are many emotions that I hadn’t considered before. Seeing her try things for the first time, or solve a problem for herself, or even just the times that she wants to cuddle on the couch and watch cartoons (currently, her favorite is the 80’s run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), has put a near perpetual lump in my throat.<br /><br />Freemasonry teaches us that our emotions are a normal part of our existence, and that (when handled properly) can make us more well rounded people. In addition to teaching us to keep our passions circumscribed, it teaches us that while traversing that circle we can and should experience the whole range of emotions, instead of staying safely at the center point.<br /><br />I’ve also found myself contemplating my own mortality more than ever before. Being a bit morbid, I’ve always had a fascination with my own demise, however death has generally existed more as something that happens to other, weaker people, people who weren’t strong enough to keep fighting for their existence. Of course, on an intellectual level, I knew that I, myself, would also die one day, however I never truly accepted the reality of the situation until having a child.<br /><br />You see, children force us to think about the future, and in the future lies a time beyond our existence. For all of us, that day creeps closer and closer, so we start to make plans, and backup plans, contingency plans, worst case scenario plans, and even “if everything goes just perfectly, this could work” plans, to prepare our children to be able to live without us. <br /><br />While having a child has made me focus on the future, it has also helped me to gain a greater respect for the past. I’ve been lucky in my Masonic career to meet men from so many different generations, and each has taught me something valuable when it comes to raising a child. Watching everything going on in the world, I definitely appreciate a simpler time with less things to worry about; I know my parents never had to worry about what I was watching on a tablet...<br /><br />Children are, Masonically speaking, rather expensive. Money that was once going to our Masonic habit is suddenly being redirected to things like clothing, diapers, food, and whatever the heck an aspirator is. So far, my experience has been that as they age they become more expensive, and I see no reason to expect this trend to change until the time comes that I’m entirely destitute.</div><div>Of course, money is only part of the expense, while the larger and more important expense is time. Time is the currency that Masons use to best improve the world around us, and children require a LOT of time. The paradox, from what I’m seeing, is that the more time I invest into my daughter, the more she will go on to improve the world, thereby accomplishing our goals.<br /><br />Finally, I’ve found that having a child makes it very difficult to ever get around to finishing anything that I start. This article, for instance, was started nearly five months ago, and no amount of editing has made it read any better than it did when I first started writing it. The ending, which tied it all together both intelligently and eloquently, was unfortunately overwritten by the Troll Holiday special (no, I have no idea how that’s possible, let’s just go with it, or this will sit on my computer for another five months before being revisited).</div><div><br /></div><div>~AT</div><div><br /></div><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB. Bro. Adam Thayer</span></u></i></b> is the Senior Warden of Lancaster Lodge No. 54 in Lincoln (NE) and a past master of Oliver Lodge No. 38 in Seward (NE). He’s an active member in the Knights of Saint Andrew, and on occasion remembers to visit the Scottish and York Rites as well. He continues to be reappointed to the Grand Lodge of Nebraska Education Committee, and serves with fervency and zeal. He is a sub-host on The Whence Came You podcast, and may be reached at adam@wcypodcast.com. He will not help you get your whites whiter or your brights brighter, but he does enjoy conversing with brothers from around the world!<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/J8tM-gptkHA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/J8tM-gptkHA/freemasonry-and-fatherhood.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)2http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/freemasonry-and-fatherhood.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-1705164356609753181Mon, 08 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-08T05:00:50.894-08:00Freemasonryguestlodgemasonicmidnight freemasonsprioritiesrobert e jacksontimetime managementworkaholicThe 24 Inch Gauge – Size Does Matter<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WB Robert E. Jackson</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/0*0BDCxnTsX-okLUDu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/0*0BDCxnTsX-okLUDu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I was on a business trip, first one I've taken in a long time. Taking advantage of the 'free' time I had, I decided to catch up on some reading. There was a specific article that needed to be shared with my wife….an article entitled "It's not Masonry, he's just an (expletive)-hole." Her immediate response was "Is this for you or me?" I thought that was a good question, and I was thankful to this article for helping initiate a very difficult conversation…was I risking too much? How out of whack was my 24" gauge? As happens from time to time, my wife helped me view my situation from a different angle. <br /><br />Throughout the discussion, I was trying to explain that I was trying to balance my responsibilities, but I felt that as Master, I needed to support each event on our calendar. Most frustrating was the fact that only a very few Brothers really stepped forward to help with the various endeavors. When they don't show up, my internal demons start theorizing…do they care? Is the latest episode of 'Dance Moms' really more important to them than our Lodge? What I didn't see, without her help, is that it is entirely possible that those men are active in their own way…being coaches, colleagues, fathers, husbands. Could it simply be possible that these men have a better handle of their 24 inch gauge? <br /><br />I still joke, on occasion, about that working tool in our repertoire. Yes, we know of the even 24 divisions, but any further divisions aren't claimed to be divided evenly! As a self diagnosed workaholic, this lesson really resonated with me, and resurfaces every time I work late or find myself wasting time. Much like our political persuasions, or spiritual beliefs, a major strength of our Fraternity is our diversity. This includes the diversification of our priorities. For many of our Brothers, their family does come first. For others, their jobs come first. It isn't our position to judge, but it is our position to learn. The management of our time is a life skill, one that we must continue to hone each and every day. Unless, of course, your name is Brother Alessandro Cagliostro.<div><br /></div><div>~REJ</div><div><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rfXC3mNEZa8/WfAfDkLZFdI/AAAAAAAAFhU/5_zIQ5NcPY444PqlYCuofyrFh7HS1fBPwCLcBGAs/s1600/REJ_MastersChair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rfXC3mNEZa8/WfAfDkLZFdI/AAAAAAAAFhU/5_zIQ5NcPY444PqlYCuofyrFh7HS1fBPwCLcBGAs/s200/REJ_MastersChair.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">Robert Edward Jackson</span></u></i></b> is a Past and presiding Master of Montgomery Lodge located in Milford, MA. His Masonic lineage includes his Father (Robert Maitland), Grandfather (Maitland Garrecht), and Great Grandfather (Edward Henry Jackson), a founding member of Scarsdale Lodge #1094 in Scarsdale, NY. When not studying ritual, he's busy being a father to his three kids, a husband, Boy Scout Leader, and a network engineer to pay for it all. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:info@montgomerylodge.org">info@montgomerylodge.org</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/uJJgiOnK89k" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/uJJgiOnK89k/the-24-inch-gauge-size-does-matter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/the-24-inch-gauge-size-does-matter.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-8765790352743238199Fri, 05 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-05T05:00:28.302-08:0020172018adamFreemasonFreemasonrylooking backmasonicthayerWCYyear in reviewReflections on a Long Year - 2017 edition<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WB Adam Thayer&nbsp;</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-STpPC4JHSB8/WkkWcsOHrbI/AAAAAAAAFss/3bA3EBNNvi8KMprO-E6Vnas6JIlKtDrQACLcBGAs/s1600/looing%2Bback%2Bmf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="1280" height="169" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-STpPC4JHSB8/WkkWcsOHrbI/AAAAAAAAFss/3bA3EBNNvi8KMprO-E6Vnas6JIlKtDrQACLcBGAs/s320/looing%2Bback%2Bmf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>“Brethren, as the year is drawing to a close, I, like many of you, find myself reflecting upon the challenges and achievements of the past year and turning an eager eye forward to see what the new year will bring. While my year has been full of many joys, there have been many trials that I did not believe I was prepared to handle and obstacles that seemed impossible to overcome. I feel relatively safe in saying that when you take the final tally of your year’s events, you will find a similar sentiment.”<br /><br />I said that… two years ago now? Wow, two years has gone by so fast, it seems like I’m still preparing for my year as Senior Warden, not looking back at the end of my year in the East.<br /><br />For anyone who has not yet sat in the East, it’s an interesting mix of feeling like a king and being convinced that you’re actually the jester. It’s a lot of work, no doubt, and a lot of reward, and if you’re really lucky, you’ve managed to do something that will improve your lodge for the future. For me, I hope that at least one of the old traditions that we brought back will continue into the future, and that the speech competition we’ve started will be a very successful program for years to come.<br /><br />Some people enjoy being in charge, and are very good at it; I don’t. Somehow, I keep finding myself in leadership positions, when I would much rather spend my time writing, and editing my local Masonic newspaper, occasionally helping out with degree work as needed. If I could go the rest of my life without running another lodge, I would be perfectly happy, however the sad reality is that there are not enough qualified people around to handle all of the positions that need filled, and part of being a Mason is stepping into things you’d really rather not do.<br /><br />We’ve spoken about Masonic burnout a lot on the site. I mean, a LOT. I’ve read every one of the articles, because I’m a huge fan of the writers here, and I read every article that gets published. After every burnout article, I always told myself “man, that’ll never happen to ME, I’m much stronger than that.” If I could sit down with that smug bastard right now, I’d smack him right in the face. After that was accomplished, I’d explain that burnout has nothing to do with strength, or a lack of strength, it’s from being strong for too long against overwhelming odds without any reprieve from the stress. Once I was certain that he understood, I’d smack him again, because let’s face it, he deserves it.<br /><br />“For those of you who, like myself, have had a very painful year, I hope you can find comfort in the words of Ovid: Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim. (Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.)”<br /><br />I wrote that too. (See, I told you, smug) I don’t disagree with what I said, because I still believe it to be absolutely true. I don’t believe, however, that it was nearly encompassing enough, as it didn’t address the issue I’m facing now: I’m tired. Green Mile, “like pieces of glass in my head, all the time” tired.<br /><br />For those of you who have been long time readers, you may have noticed I was absent for a while; believe me, I’ve missed being here and writing so much that it eats away at me in those late hours when I really should be sleeping, and I apologize for being gone so long. For so long, writing was my inspiration, and what recharged my battery when it was running low; unfortunately, when times get tough, we often give up those things we should be holding like a life raft, and that has been my downfall this year as well.<br /><br />It’s been a long year, but in the history of long years it surely hasn’t been the longest. It has been exhausting, trying, and at times overwhelming, and that’s just a typical evening with my two year old!<br /><br />The best part of being a writer for this site is that when things are going well, I have all of you to celebrate and share the joy with, and when things have all gone pear shape I have you to commiserate with, which leads me to the last thing I said two years ago, and which is no less true today:<br /><br />“I love each and every one of you, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it!”<br /><div><br /></div><div>~AT</div><div><br /></div><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB. Bro. Adam Thayer</span></u></i></b> is the Senior Warden of Lancaster Lodge No. 54 in Lincoln (NE) and a past master of Oliver Lodge No. 38 in Seward (NE). He’s an active member in the Knights of Saint Andrew, and on occasion remembers to visit the Scottish and York Rites as well. He continues to be reappointed to the Grand Lodge of Nebraska Education Committee, and serves with fervency and zeal. He is a sub-host on The Whence Came You podcast, and may be reached at adam@wcypodcast.com. He will not help you get your whites whiter or your brights brighter, but he does enjoy conversing with brothers from around the world!<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/sYNQk4ViMXE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/sYNQk4ViMXE/reflections-on-long-year-2017-edition.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/reflections-on-long-year-2017-edition.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-4738496003358131868Wed, 03 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-03T07:24:52.056-08:00adviceDarin lahnersdeclineelitismfrustrationhow tomembershipsurveywest gatewhatwhy"Oh Brother where art thou?"<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>WB Darin Lahners</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://recruitment.hk/2016/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/job-search-1030x496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://recruitment.hk/2016/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/job-search-1030x496.jpg" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="800" height="192" width="400" /></a></div><br />The first article I wrote for the Midnight Freemasons was about my trepidation on becoming Worshipful Master of my Lodge. I wrote out my mission statement and emphasized how I wanted to make the lodge a place where brothers and their families wanted to spend time. I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to arrange some events for the brethren to get together socially. My last two attempts have had attendance from myself and one other member (and Midnight Freemason). Our November stated meeting barely had enough members for a quorum to open lodge. Granted, I knew that we had a few members that had other obligations due to their familial obligations, but I still wonder, is there something I’m doing wrong? <br /><br />The writing has been on the wall for some time. We have seen declining interest in events such as Worker’s Club. My Junior Warden has received a wonderful opportunity to continue his education, the downside being that his class meets on Thursdays, which means he’s been missing some of our stated meetings. My Senior Warden has a job which requires a lot of travel, so I’m lucky that he can make the stated meetings, but he doesn’t have much time to make other events. On top of this, we just won 2nd place for Lodges under 80 members in the State of Illinois for our Grand Masters Award of Excellence. All this adds pressure to try to make sure we do equally as well next year. But still it makes me wonder, why aren’t many of my other brethren as concerned about keeping the high level of excellence we’ve set?<br /><br />Worshipful Bro. Scott Dueball just wrote a really interesting article regarding this: Read it <a href="http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2017/12/unicorns.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br /><div><br /></div><div>He challenged the incoming leadership of his lodge as outgoing Master regarding creating a membership-centric plan for their lodge. His main points were eloquently summarized as:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ol><li><b><u>Identify where the lodge has gaps in what needs to get done.</u></b></li><li><b><u>Identify brothers with those talents.</u></b></li><li><b><u>Identify ways to attract the interests of those brothers.</u></b></li></ol></div><br />In my home lodge, we are particularly lucky to have 3 members that work in the kitchen of a local restaurant. Our food when we have degrees is spectacular. I’m not taking advantage of this as Master. We should have food before our meetings at the lodge, instead of me meeting a few brothers for dinner prior. Masons like to eat right? But this only really applies to brethren that want to be active in the lodge.<br /><br />The question remains for me: “How do I attract inactive members to come to lodge?” I came up with a short survey. As I just sent it out. I have no idea how it will be received. I have no idea if anyone will reply to me. I’ll share the results in a future article. However, the survey is below:<br /><br />1.<b> If you are not currently regularly attending the stated meetings, what is keeping you from coming?</b><br /><ul><li>Personal reasons. (Work, Family, Etc.)</li><li>Lodge is boring.</li><li>I've forgotten the passwords and I don't want to embarrass myself/I feel awkward attending by myself.</li><li>I have better things to do with my time.</li></ul>2.<b> What would make our lodge more attractive to you?</b><br /><ul><li>More family events like dinners, picnics, etc.</li><li>More Educational programs.</li><li>More fellowship activities (going bowling or other group activities, dining together, socializing as brethren).</li><li>Focusing on doing community service/charitable works in our community.</li></ul>3. <b>What would attract you to come to a stated meeting?</b><br /><ul><li>A nice dinner prior to the meeting in our dining room at the lodge.</li><li>Guest Speakers (Notable Masonic scholars and the like).</li><li>A short meeting followed by fellowship off of lodge property at an establishment that serves Adult Beverages.</li><li>Nothing, I'm fine just paying dues.</li></ul><div><br /></div>My struggles led me to think about how we select members. There seem to be two fundamental philosophies regarding prospective members at play within Freemasonry. The first philosophy is based upon a fear that we are dying as an organization, and we need membership. If a man meets the basic criteria for joining the lodge and petitions for membership, assuming he meets this criteria, he should be allowed to join. We need bodies to pay dues and to pay per capita, and as long as they are doing this, it’s fine if they don’t engage in the lodge. <br /><br />At least once a year I hear one brother in lodge talk about how electing a candidate to receive the degrees of Freemasonry should be a mere formality. The same brother thinks that we should never throw a black ball (black cube in Illinois), because by the time a candidate has his petition balloted on, that he has been thoroughly vetted by at least six other brothers. The 3 brothers that have signed the petition as well as the 3 or more members that have served on the investigation committee all have essentially vouched for the petitioner. So the petitioner’s election at this point should be a given and anyone who has an issue with the candidate should have addressed it to the lodge prior to the vote. <br /><br />However, I think we all might have a regret of not throwing a cube at some point during your Masonic journey. I personally have two candidates that I thought long and hard about black balling. I didn’t do it. I didn’t do it because their top line signer was and still is a personal friend and a masonic mentor. But I often wonder, should I have? The two candidates in question now are absent from lodge and we are chronically chasing after them to pay their dues. I regret, not doing it in retrospect. But what does that make me? I feel complicit in the situation. <br /><br />The other fundamental philosophy is that we need to make Masonry somewhat elitist. This idea is based upon a thought that we should only admit men that have a desire to improve themselves and dedicate themselves to the craft. It also argues that we are not maintaining our historical identity by letting every man of good character join. It believes that we are essentially causing the status quo to be lowered because we should only allow men that are going to act towards being morally and intellectually superior. If we institute some form of entrance prerequisite, we will separate the wheat from the chaff. We must Guard the West Gate against men who do not share these ideals.<br /><br />This idea has come up again in discussion recently due to this recent post by Illus. Brother Chris Hodapp. If you’ve not read it, I suggest you do so (click)-&gt;&nbsp;<a href="http://freemasonsfordummies.blogspot.com/2017/12/knock-knock-were-not-in.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>: <br /><br />While I caution against elitism, I don’t think that it’s necessarily a bad thing to re-examine ourselves as a Fraternity. Sometimes a good hard look in the mirror reveals flaws that we’ve been ignoring for far too long. Yes, we need to attract a certain type of member, but I wonder if the West Gate had been strongly guarded when I joined, would I have made the cut? Would you have? But then again, had it been guarded more strongly after I was a member, would I have the same issues with lodge participation that I have today? <br /><br />I guess these are questions that can’t be answered because the past is set in stone. We can only decide for ourselves at our local lodge level, what we want to be going forward into the future. Each individual lodge is different. Each member is different. I can only state for myself that I have become a better person due to the lessons of my degrees. I can only say that I feel blessed for the friends and mentors that I have made along the way. I can only state that Freemasonry has unlocked a desire to write and to create that lie asleep in me. I would hate to take that opportunity away from another man who is just as qualified as I was for Freemasonry. However, I also believe that I need to be protective of the craft. So I will end with this, we are given the power of the ballot as a Master Mason for a reason. Don’t be afraid to use it to protect Masonry if you feel a man is unworthy or will prove himself to be so. Just be sure to use it responsibly.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W_AXfg14JJg/WkLBlKeCF_I/AAAAAAAAFpk/qenlRHQOlRI9lOBAoURdYJWoKR1HL6NmwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_9268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W_AXfg14JJg/WkLBlKeCF_I/AAAAAAAAFpk/qenlRHQOlRI9lOBAoURdYJWoKR1HL6NmwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_9268.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />-DAL <br /><br /><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB Darin A. Lahners </span></u></i></b>is the Worshipful Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL). He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of the new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D. and is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign – Urbana (IL). He is also a member of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. When he’s not busy enjoying Masonic fellowship, Darin spends his time as a DM for his children’s D&amp;D campaign, reading, golfing, watching movies and listening to music. You can reach him by email at <a href="mailto:darin.lahners@gmail.com">darin.lahners@gmail.com</a>.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/NLN2LK86gBo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/NLN2LK86gBo/oh-brother-where-art-thou.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)4http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/oh-brother-where-art-thou.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-1079733339024422026Mon, 01 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +00002018-01-01T05:00:00.187-08:002018freemaosmnsmidnight freemasonsnew yearHappy New Year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzVIEzFNI9R_x_p795UUWxP1HaUhH7s9ODiyLhBUQzNEDyYroORF1FGeqAogMXux02rNnLAZ_zxYsktz7WGrg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /></div><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/GNGUMUmmvHg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/GNGUMUmmvHg/happy-new-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)2http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2018/01/happy-new-year.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-8378157552963595560Fri, 29 Dec 2017 13:00:00 +00002017-12-29T05:00:33.796-08:00conductFreemasonFreemasonryHarrisonhistorymasonmasonicsteven l harrisontales from the craftunmasonicx-ratedX-Rated Freemasonry<div style="text-align: center;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.midwestoutreach.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/finger-wag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.midwestoutreach.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/finger-wag.jpg" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="468" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Freemasons — those never kiss-and-tell pillars of society always adhere to the values of ethics and high-morals, observing the promises of their obligations. Well... almost always. There have been instances where society, depending upon the social mores of the day, may have judged Brethren harshly for "crossing the line." Some of those occasions by today's standards may seem as tame as a sleeping kitten while others might raise the eyebrows of the most iniquitous among us. Read on, and judge for yourself.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</div><u>American Gothic</u><br />Brother Grant Wood (1892-1942), of Mount Hermon Lodge 263, Cedar Rapids, painted the acclaimed "American Gothic." Released in 1930, the painting shocked many when Wood said it was a portrait of a married couple. The scene depicts an elderly man holding a pitchfork standing next to a much younger woman. The age difference caused the scandal, so Wood eventually said the woman represented the man's daughter. He would, in fact, change that story and say she was his wife, depending on how he perceived the audience would react.<br /><br /><u>Four Too Many</u><br /><div>Brother Tom Mix, a member of Utopia Lodge 537 of Los Angeles was one of the earliest film superstars. In an era where moviegoers were unaccustomed to some of the antics of Hollywood actors, they were shocked at what one might call his practice of "serial monogamy." Mix had five wives — at a time when that number was considered just about four too many.</div><div><br /></div><div><u>Bare Facts</u></div><div>After visiting the Soviet Union Brother Will Rogers wrote a book entitled, "There's Not A Bathing Suit In Russia, And Other Bare Facts." Suggestive by the standards of the day, the publisher declined to put the second part of the title on the book's cover.</div><div><br /></div><div><u>Stephen Austin's Nemesis</u><br />Anthony Butler (1787–1849) was a lawyer, a politician, a diplomat, the ward and friend of Brother Andrew Jackson and, yes, a Freemason. Jackson appointed Butler his secret agent in a surreptitious plan to purchase Texas for the United States. Upon arriving in Texas, Butler crossed swords with Brother Stephen F. Austin who was establishing colonies there. While there, Butler became interested in and began courting the daughter of a prominent Mexican family. Austin was a friend of the family. Upon hearing what Butler was up to, he exposed him as a man who had a wife and three children back in the US., thwarting the plan to purchase Texas and fueling a lifetime of animosity between the two Masonic Brothers.</div><div><br /><u>The Bestseller</u><br />Charles P. "Chic" Sale (1885-1936), Urbana Lodge 157 (IL), was an actor and humorist in vaudeville and a character actor in movies. He never achieved a great amount of fame, however, until he became an author and published "The Specialist." The book sold 200,000 copies in three months and went on to be a million-seller. Its subject: outhouses. Considered risqué for its time, the book was nearly banned, but Brother Sale chose his words just carefully enough to avoid having it censored.</div><div><br /></div><div><u>A One-Glove Striptease</u></div><div>Glenn Ford, a member of Riviera Lodge 780 in Pacific Palisades, California, got his big break when Humphrey Bogart turned down the role of Johnny Farrell in the 1946 blockbuster, "Gilda." In one scene his co-star, Rita Hayworth, was to take swing at him. She misjudged the distance between them and broke Ford's jaw. That was only the beginning of the scandal the film generated. In it, Hayworth performed a strip-tease in which she removed nothing more than one glove. That and a rumored affair between the two co-stars nearly caused censors to ban the movie.<br /><br /><u>Sin-Suffer-Repent</u></div><div>Brother Henry Lieferant (1892-1968), Lodge unknown, was a Polish-born and educated immigrant to the US who became a prolific author with several books and magazine articles to his credit. As Editor-in-chief of "True Story" magazine, he was responsible for its rise to popularity — and reputation as an "off color" magazine — when he developed the story format whereby a heroine "violates standards of behavior, suffers as a consequence, learns her lesson and resolves to live in light of it, unembittered by her pain." "True Story" magazine still survives using Brother Lieferant's tried-and-true, if not slightly salacious format known as "sin-suffer-repent."<br /><br /><u>Panty Raid</u><br />A Grand Lodge of California account from the mid-1960s describes a crime in which a Brother had been convicted of the theft of clothing, including 181 pairs of women's undergarments. The official police report described the incident as a "panty raid," stemming from the popular (and self-explanatory) hi-jinx occurring on college campuses at the time. The Brother came up on Masonic charges. In order to distinguish his serious crime from some youthful indiscretion, the Grand Lodge of California Proceedings for that year included the following: "We do not wish to be misunderstood as overemphasizing the gravity of that specification against the accused in which he is charged with a ‘panty raid.' Indulgence in such conduct by boys of college age for the purpose of displaying either skill or courage, if that be the purpose, differs from the conduct of the accused here, in that the theft of 181 pairs of ladies pants is not merely a playful prank."</div><div><br /></div><div><u>Unchristian Conduct</u><br />The Presbyterian Church in 1831, sanctioned Nathaniel Beverley Tucker (1784-1851), second Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, for shocking "unchristian conduct." Certain parties, it seems, claimed he "partook of the amusement of dancing" on three occasions. There is no record of any action taken against him, but shortly thereafter MWB Tucker became an Episcopalian.</div><div><br /></div><div><u>Keeping It In the Family</u><br />Brother Will Rogers asked his wife Betty to marry him in 1906. Betty, apprehensive about a life in show business, turned him down. A year and a half later the persistent Rogers changed her mind and they married. In the meantime`, Rogers dated every one of Betty's six sisters.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said of obscenity, "I can't define it... but I know it when I see it." That might apply to each of these little scenarios. As you form your opinion about their appropriateness, you might do well to drag your Bible off the shelf and read Matthew 7:1-3; And, while you're at it, ask yourself if the title of the article piqued your interest.<br /><br /><i>Note: Many of the accounts above are excerpted from Brother Harrison's book, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Freemasons-Tales-Steven-L-Harrison/dp/1312344482/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1514322291&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank">Freemasons: Tales From the Craft.</a>"</i></div><div><br /></div><div>~SLH</div><br /><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°</span></u></i></b> , is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships are the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35 year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons — Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/Gj0riuZSNuM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/Gj0riuZSNuM/x-rated-freemasonry.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)1http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2017/12/x-rated-freemasonry.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2909814477098868440.post-5414113344346781976Wed, 27 Dec 2017 13:00:00 +00002017-12-27T05:00:22.541-08:00Freemasonrylessonsmasonicmindfulscott dueballthoughtfulSilence<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>by Midnight Freemason Contributor</i></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Scott S. Dueball, PM</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4c0558187f8b9aee66be0100/ipod-headphones-listen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4c0558187f8b9aee66be0100/ipod-headphones-listen.jpg" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="300" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the beginning of Advent we heard Luke 1:11-25 and a sermon accompanying it. In this passage Zechariah is visited by Gabriel at an altar of incense. Gabriel informs Zechariah that his wife will give birth to John (the Baptist). When Zechariah questions the authenticity of Gabriel’s message, Gabriel makes Zechariah silent until John’s birth.<br /><br />I all but completely missed this until the sermon called to my attention that the purpose of this silence may not have been punish Zechariah’s lack of faith but to encourage him to listen. This explanation caught my attention as it is present in Masonry and many of the old mystical traditions. Members of the Pythagorean community had to complete a 5 year period of silence. Many eastern and western traditions incorporate various modes of meditation which seek to increase mindfulness of the present. As Masons, the theme of silence is prevalent throughout the degrees. Similar to the story of Zechariah, silence can be understood through a punitive lens but I posit that the concept of listening without the burden of having to respond is of greater value to us as Masons and humans. <br /><br />In the social media age we have been given a microphone without any instruction to listen (or think) first. I am just as guilty as anyone of feeling the need to respond to EVERYTHING. There is a fine line between things that are necessary to correct and things that likely won’t be solved by offering my opinion (or even facts). We miss out on a great many things when we become enamored by our own words. <br /><br />As we approach this season of renewal (be that Christmas, Solstice, Chanukah or any other winter celebration), let us remember to listen to the beauty of the world surrounding us. The nights are getting longer and colder but soon the Sun will rise and give way to new beauty and warmth. Let us each commit to spending more time in silence and appreciating the sounds of yule logs crackling, children in wonder, and carolers spreading hope. Celebrate and cultivate that warmth which we as Brethren have the ability to share. Pay attention to the ways in which the Grand Architect has established his greatness in our lives. The beauty of spring depends on our ability to calm our thoughts and fully embrace the experience of winter.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">~SSD</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><u><span style="color: #e69138;">WB Scott S. Dueball</span></u></i></b> is the Worshipful Master of D.C. Cregier Lodge No. 81 in Wheeling, IL and holds a dual membership in Denver Lodge No. 5 in Denver, CO. He currently serves the Grand Lodge of Illinois as the State Education Officer. Scott is also a member of the Palatine York Rite bodies and the Valley of Chicago A.A.S.R.-N.M.J. He is passionate about the development of young masons, strategy and visioning for Lodges. He can be reached at SEO@ilmason.org</span><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~4/1mR9_LJpLng" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themidnightfreemason/~3/1mR9_LJpLng/silence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Johnson)0http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2017/12/silence.html